hybrid paper and digital machines. Sullivan said the Texas secretary of state’s office will send voters pam- phlets and set up billboards ahead of the November elections to prepare voters for changes to voting rules. He said people whose mail applica- tion was rejected in many cases can go online to www.votetexas.gov to address their issue. Shah said Harris County is taking actions to help educate the public on proper mail-in ballot use, including advertising, community outreach, implementing highlighted fields on applications and ballots, and alter- ing the designs of ballots to make the requirements more prominent. She advised voters heading into the November election to plan to The Texas poll tax is established, requiring otherwise eligible voters to pay between $1.50-$1.75 to register to vote. 1902 The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, prohibiting the use of poll taxes to vote in any federal election. 1964
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed into law, enforcing a previous ruling that voting rights cannot be denied by the U.S. or by any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. 1965 Congress requires states, including Texas, that previously prevented citizens who did not speak English from voting by not providing election materials in their language to provide election and voting materials in Spanish. 1975 vote early and said if anyone has questions regarding voting by mail to reach out to the Harris County elections administration general phone line at 713-755-6965. “I anticipate that number [of rejected ballots] will continue to go down,” Shah said. “But we are still pushing a lot more resources toward mail ballots than we ever have before.” Emily Lincke and Wesley Gardner contributed to this report.
V O T E
The Texas Legislature enacts Senate Bill 14 , requiring voters to present one of seven acceptable forms of identification to vote in person. 2011
Over the last 120 years, the state of Texas has approved a number of bills affecting voters’ rights and has also been impacted by a number of federal voting changes. VOTING LEGISLATION
SOURCE: TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
2021
Texas approves Senate Bill 1 , a sweeping election reform bill that further tightens state election laws and constrains local control of elections by limiting counties’ ability to expand voting options. • Bans in-person drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting options, which were each implemented in Harris County in the 2020 presidential election • Adds new identification requirements for voting by mail • Increases autonomy for poll watchers by allowing them “free movement,” requiring training before they are eligible to serve • Limits the help voter assistants are able to provide for in-person voting • Makes proactively distributing mail ballot applications a state felony
were generally loosened in the legis- lation, and November will have the first real test of the latest regulations. “A poll watcher appointed under Chapter 33 [of the Texas Elec- tion Code] shall observe without obstructing the conduct of an elec- tion and call to the attention of an election officer any observed or sus- pected irregularity or violation of law in the conduct of the election,” Ingram said in a Feb. 4 elections advisory letter. The state also mandated polling sta- tions return to recording paper ballots, which many Galveston County voters will see at polling stations starting in November. Sullivan said voters may expect to see long lines at the begin- ning as people get used to the new
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