State elections officials were asleep at the wheel after the Texas Legislature passed a raft of new voting rules last year. Soon after his appointment last fall, Secretary of State John B. Scott should have launched an aggressive education campaign to explain those new rules to voters and local elections administrators.
But the rollout of training and materials was slow, and that contributed to mass confusion in the primaries. Those most affected were seniors and others who usually vote by mail. Statewide, about 12% of mail-in ballots were rejected — more than 24,000 votes.
Scott’s office deserved the criticism it received at the time. But we’re glad to report that state leaders are being more assertive in educating voters for the general election, with county officials layering their own informational campaigns on top of the state’s marketing efforts.
What tripped up thousands of mail-in voters last time was a new requirement to include a driver’s license number or part of a Social Security number on the ballot application and also on the carrier envelope for the actual ballot. Per Texas’ new voting rules, the number must match what’s on file for that voter.
The state has access to both numbers for 95% of Texas voters. County and state officials said the main problem was that many voters simply did not fill out the fields. They blamed the placement of the fields under the flap of the envelope.
The good news is that Texas has modified the envelope to highlight the section with a bold red box and make it more apparent, according to Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. Several counties are also including colorful inserts with mail-in ballots to make sure voters are aware of the ID requirement.
Nick Solorzano, communications manager for the Dallas County elections department, said county officials are also including inserts with mail-in ballot materials. And they’re taking the extra step of calling voters whose ballot applications are rejected to help them resolve the issue.
County elections administrators and the secretary of state credit the inserts and voter experience with improving ballot rejection rates. In the primary runoffs in May, the rejection rate was about 4% of ballots for each party.
The new requirement to include an ID when filling out a mail-in ballot is a reasonable rule. It protects older voters who on occasion are targeted by unscrupulous campaign workers who manipulate them into voting a certain way. But any change to a voting form is bound to create confusion, and state officials should have anticipated that.
They seem to have caught on. Taylor said the secretary of state’s office has radio and TV ads, as well as billboards and other marketing rolling out this fall. It’s also sharing free educational materials with county officials, nonprofits and other groups. An informational tour that began in August will include stops at the State Fair in Dallas and two senior expos in North Texas.
Too many things have gone wrong for Texas voters in recent elections. We hope election officials have learned from their mistakes.
