MSN/Austin American-Statesman: Central Texas counties report ‘higher than ever’ rejection rates for primary mail ballots
MSN/Austin American-Statesman: Central Texas counties report 'higher than ever' rejection rates for primary mail ballots
Central Texas counties threw out more than 1,000 mail-in ballots in the March primary, the first election since the implementation of a new GOP voting law known as Senate Bill 1.
The rejected ballots were among almost 23,000 mail-in votes that were uncounted in the 187 largest Texas counties under voting rules that were part of a broad campaign by Republicans to reshape American elections, according to an analysis published Wednesday by The Associated Press.
“I think we were all worried about vote-by-mail requirements, but I don’t think anyone expected for it to be quite this much of a catastrophe,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the nonpartisan elections and democracy organization Common Cause Texas, which is is suing state officials over SB 1.
Part of the problem, Gutierrez said, is that he is not seeing an earnest effort from the secretary of state to alert voters of the new changes.
“The secretary of state seemed to be doing little to nothing to educate Texans about the new requirements until the very last minute,” Gutierrez said. “Counties were just given the statute and left to figure it out by themselves.”