Reuters: Thousands of Texas ballots rejected as new voter ID law causes confusion

Feb 18 (Reuters) – Thousands of Texas voters’ mail-in ballots for midterm primary elections have been rejected for failing to comply with new Republican-backed identification requirements passed in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud, county officials said.

Election officials in six of the state’s largest counties, which are collectively home to about a third of Texas’ population, are reporting unprecedented rates of invalid ballots, almost entirely because voters are neglecting to include an ID number on the envelope as the new law demands.

That has officials scrambling to try to help voters correct the errors, less than two weeks before the state holds the nation’s first primary election in which the Democratic and Republican voters will choose their candidates for the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress for the next two years.

In Harris County, home to Houston and 4.7 million people, 3,475 ballots representing about 35% of those received by Tuesday could not be accepted because voters did not fill in the correct number. In past years, the overall rejection rate was between 5% and 10%.

The vast majority of ballots appeared to have been cast by registered voters who simply made an honest mistake, officials said. …

Republican lawmakers argue the bill, which also imposed other restrictions such as barring drive-through voting, prevents election fraud and ensures public confidence. Democrats and civil rights groups point out voter fraud is exceptionally rare in the United States and say the bill is intended to depress turnout.

“Anytime you add a step to the process … you lose voters who are making a good-faith effort to cast their ballot,” said Katya Ehresman, the grassroots organizer for Common Cause Texas, a nonpartisan group that advocates for government reform.