SOURCES: HARRIS COUNTY ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATOR’S OFFICE, TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE/ COMMUNITY IMPACT Errors cited in rejected mail-in ballots include failure to provide ID numbers on applications and numbers not matching on ballots. Those without an acceptable ID can vote if none of the required ID numbers are found in registration records. Notice is provided if applications or ballots are rejected.
laws included in SB 1, a voting reform bill that was approved by the Texas Legislature. Sam Taylor, assistant secretary of state for communications, said he believes the decline in mail-in ballot rejection rates from March to May can be attributed to voters adjusting to the voting changes. However, Taylor said the addi- tion of reconciliation reports—which require counties to compare the num- ber of voters who cast valid ballots with the number of votes counted by their tabulation system—has added a new layer of transparency. “The reconciliation form that was added in SB 1 has been the biggest help for our office in terms of hunting down any issues that we see in the reporting of results,” Taylor said. Since 2015, the state has success- fully prosecuted 155 individuals for election fraud offenses, according to the Texas attorney general’s office. While the new voting-by-mail regu- lations were approved to reduce the potential for fraudulent voting, local election officials and policy experts said the regulations have added hur- dles for individuals who vote by mail. While the state and Harris County saw decreases in mail-in ballot rejec- tions from March’s primary election to elections held in May, Renee Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, said she believes the effect of SB 1 might not be completely visi- ble until the November election. “Just like any primary election in Texas, voter turnout is relatively low,” Cross said. “I don’t think we’re going to see the full effect of these laws until you have a statewide gen- eral election, which of course we will have in November.” Mail-in ballot rejections To be eligible to vote by mail in
REJECTION RATES
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SAMPLE MAIL-IN BALLOT APPLICATION
SAMPLE MAIL-IN BALLOT
Texas Driver’s License, Texas Personal Identification Number or Election Identification Certificate Number issued by the Department of Public Safety (NOT your voter registration Voter Unique Identifier Number) You must provide one of the following numbers:
FOLD LINE
Signature
If you do not have a Texas Driver’s License, a Texas Personal Identification Number or a Texas Election Identification Certificate Number, give the last four digits of your Social Security number.
Required information: You must provide one of the following:
Driver's license, personal ID or election ID
Last four digits of Social Security number
I have not been issued a driver's license or ID
I have not been issued a Texas Driver’s License/ Texas Personal Identification Number/Texas Election Identification Certificate or Social Security Number
Phone: OPTIONAL CONTACT INFORMATION: Email:
Texas driver’s license number Texas state ID number Last four digits of their Social Security number Election ID certificate number APPLICATION REQUIREMENT: ID NUMBERS Senate Bill 1 requires individuals who vote by mail to include one of the following identification numbers on their applications:
Provide optional contact information to expedite the correction process. Visit www.votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/track-my-ballot.html to track ballot status and correct errors on ballots. BALLOT REQUIREMENT: MATCHING ID NUMBERS Senate Bill 1 requires individuals who vote by mail to include the same number submitted on their applications on their ballots. Election officials offered mail-in ballot voters the following tips:
Leah Shah, the director of commu- nications and voter outreach for the Harris County elections administra- tor’s office, said the “historic rate” of mail-in ballot rejections was a big challenge for the county during the March and May primaries. “There are new requirements under the law that require different infor- mation, including Texas ID or Social Security,” Shah said. “We found that a lot of people who were filling the forms out both for the application and the return ballot were missing those required fields, and that created a kind of a domino effect of rejections.”
Statewide, 24,636 mail-in ballots were rejected in the March 1 primary election—roughly 12.4% of all mail-in ballots submitted, according to state data. According to a 2021 U.S. Election Assistance Commission report, Texas rejected roughly 8,300, or about 0.8%, of the nearly 1 million mail-in ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election. Although mail-in ballot rejec- tions surged in March, in the two elections held since then, the num- ber of rejected mail-in ballots declined, according to state data. The new regulations surrounding mail-in voting are one of many
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were seen in elections held six to eight months after Senate Bill 1 added new voting requirements to Texas elections. The number of mail-in ballots rejected in Harris County skyrock- eted following the passage of SB 1 in September 2021, jumping from 135 mail-in ballot rejections during the Nov. 6, 2018, midterm election to about 6,900 rejected ballots in the March 1 primary election, according to Harris County Elections Adminis- trator’s Office data.
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