Texas Seeks to Invalidate Mail-In Ballots
By: Jody Johnson, President Rideshare2Vote PAC
Voter suppression will not end in Texas until we are able to get enough Democrats into the voting booth. Get your Free Round Trip Ride NOW.
Before mail-in ballots are counted in Texas, a committee of local election officials (local elections matter!) reviews them to make sure that the voter’s signature on the ballot envelope matches the signature that the voter used when he/she registered to vote (which could be up to 6 YEARS before the actual election). There are NO standards for signature review, and the officials rarely have training in signature verification (which is an imperfect science at best anyway).
In August 2019, George Richardson and Rosalie Weisfeld, both from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, filed suit after their mail-in ballots were rejected based on signatures. Their complaint was based on the fact that the law does not allow for any process by which voters may challenge the decision of local officials to invalidate a mail-in ballot based on a signature. On September 8, 2020, a federal judge sided with the voters and found that the state’s process “plainly violates certain voters’ constitutional rights”.
As was expected by anyone who follows the multitude of voting cases winding their way through the courts in Texas, the Republican-controlled 5th Circuit Court of Appeals took up this case and on October 19, 2020, issued its ruling that
Texas Election officials may continue rejecting mail-in ballots without notifying voters until after the election that their ballot was not counted.
GET A RIDE TO DROP YOUR MAIL IN BALLOT AT COUNTY ELECTIONS.
The Court relied on the GOP party line by stating that Texas has a strong interest in safeguarding the integrity of its elections from voter fraud. As is the case across this country, there is no evidence to support any legitimate voter fraud issue in Texas.
This is a threat to free and fair elections.
How many times do we verify our identity with signatures (think banks, social media accounts, etc.)? And, we are going to match signatures of elderly people who arguably have handwriting that is more likely to change/deteriorate?
The Texas Election Code has NO standards to reviewing signatures and mandates NO training. The qualifications are “reasonable judgement and good vision”.
Let’s use some objective criteria like matching home address, date of birth, or voter ID number!
Let’s change the law in Texas!
How do we do that? One vote at a time, and one election at a time, we fire the people in elected office in Texas, including our corrupt Attorney General Paxton who has been and continues to be under indictment since 2015 for securities fraud (shortly after his election), and whose 7 staff members (including his No. 2 person) recently reported him for bribery.
If you support what Rideshare2Vote is trying to do by fighting voter suppression and increasing Democratic turnout, please help us spread our service far and wide: https://rideshare2vote.com/request-a-ride/ . Thank you.
