Texas Secretary of State calls on Travis Co. to review rejected mail-in ballot application

The Texas Secretary of State is telling the Travis County clerk’s office to go back, and review mail-in ballot applications the clerk’s office rejected. The Travis county clerk has rejected half of those applications ahead of the March primary election.

The problem with the new mail-in ballot application is on the right-hand side of the very first section – where it asks for your driver’s license or the last four digits of your social security number. Many applicants appear to not have included it.

It’s part of a new voting law that passed the legislature in 2021. House Speaker Dade Phelan is a supporter. “I don’t think it’s asking too much to have an identifier on there, I know what my social security number is, I know what my driver’s license number is.”

But voting rights advocates say the new law was a solution without a problem. “It’s the problem of legislating conspiracy theories and not in reality, and when they legislate like this on a whim, real voters get hurt,” said MOVE Texas communications director Charlie Bonner.

He says some applicants also sent in an older version of the form, that did not ask for ID numbers. “There are a lot of issues and there’s really been no guidance from the Secretary of State’s office to these local elections officials or to voters.”

The Secretary of State did issue a statement today saying, “Travis County made the decision to reject these mail ballot applications before contacting our office. We call on Travis county to immediately review and re-examine the mail ballot applications in question to determine whether they were processed in accordance with state law, with the goal of reinstating and minimizing any disruption to eligible voters who have properly submitted their application for ballot by mail.”

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“The Secretary of State’s Office and a lot of our elected officials like to pin a problem on Travis county, and ignore the fact that ballots are being rejected in Harris county and in Bexar county and in Dallas. This problem is happening all over the state,” Bonner said.

The Travis County Clerk, meantime, says they are waiting for guidance from the secretary of state and that the rejection of the ballot applications isn’t final.

Supporters of the new law like Speaker Phelan say it’s on clerk’s offices statewide to get the word out. “If anything, it’s a public education PSA for the counties to remind their voters exactly what the new law is.”

Travis County says they’ll have more to say next week, in a press conference.

Meantime, you can track your mail-in ballot application through the tracker run by the secretary of state by clicking here.