Central Texas counties see lower mail ballot rejection rates compared with primary
Central Texas counties say they are seeing lower mail ballot rejection rates in the general election compared with the March primaries.
As a whole, Texas counties rejected nearly 25,000 mailed ballots in the primary elections largely because voters did not follow new identification requirements set in Senate Bill 1. Voters are required to write the last four digits of their Social Security number or their Texas personal ID/driver's license number on the carrier envelope of their ballot. That ID number must match the ID on the voter registration record.
The primary elections rejection rate statewide was 12%, according to data released by the Texas secretary of state's office in April. A report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, presenting self-reported data on the 2020 federal general election's administration, indicates less than 1% of returned mail ballots in Texas were rejected then.
An October report by the Brennan Center for Justice found racial disparities in mail ballot rejections for the primary elections. White voters were the least likely to have their ballots rejected, while other racial and ethnic groups were at least 47% more likely to have their ballots rejected, according to the report.
Travis County is currently at a 2.8% rejection rate for the general election, while the final mail ballot rejection rate for the primary elections was 8.2%, Travis County clerk's office spokesperson Victoria Hinojosa said Monday.
Williamson County is also seeing a lower rejection rate. The county is currently at a 2.21% rejection rate, elections administrator Chris Davis said Monday.
Bastrop County elections administrator Kristin Miles also said her office is seeing a decrease in defective mail ballots compared with earlier elections in 2022. There have been 35 defective mail ballots in the general election, and 27 voters have corrected their defects while eight are pending correction, Miles wrote in an email Monday.
Miles noted voters have until 5 p.m. Nov. 14th to correct defective mailed ballots. The secretary of state's website has more information on how to track mailed ballots and correct them if a voter receives notice that their ballot was rejected.
Hays County did not provide any preliminary statistics on the number of ballots needing correction.
The secretary of state's office recommends voters write both the last four digits of their Social Security number and their Texas personal ID/driver's license number on their mail ballots.
Additional run at new laws
In 2021, the Legislature implemented a bevy of election related rules that increased punishments for denying access to poll watchers, ended 24-hour and drive-thru voting and created additional ID requirements for mail-in ballots.
While many of the kinks were worked out in March during primary elections, Tuesday was another test of the new rules and the first general election under Senate Bill 1.
“Those challenges were more acutely felt in that first election of the year, in terms of number of ballots rejected for absentee processes, for video livestreaming and our operations here at the office that day,” said Davis, the Williamson County elections administrator.
As a county with a population of more than 100,000 people, Williamson County election workers and the ballots they are handling are being streamed live throughout the ballot collection process.
“We hope that outweighs those concerns,” Davis said about fears of election fraud. “In terms of the impact on our operations, it's not much; we carry on just as we have been.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas elections: Central Texas counties see lower mail ballot rejection
