The Effects of Voter Suppression on the 2022 Midterms in Texas
When Texas passed SB1 voter suppression legislation last year, there was an uproar over the potential implications of such a bill. Opponents claimed the bill would increase the number of mail-in ballots and requests rejected. They said it would complicate the process and confuse voters and reduce early voting. And they were completely correct.
As the March 1st primary date approaches, mail-in ballot requests and ballots have been rejected in incredible numbers. In Harris County, the rejection rate has risen to 13%. Travis County reported around half of the applications were rejected. Williamson County is reporting a 25% reject rate for returned ballots. And that’s just in 3 of Texas’ 254 counties.
Across Texas, SB1 is wreaking havoc on mail-in voting. It is also critical to remember that Texas already had strict rules on who is eligible to vote by mail. Only those over 65, people with disabilities, pregnant women close to their due date, people who are out of town, and those in jail who are still eligible to vote can request a mail-in ballot. These groups are only able to vote by mail because it is virtually impossible or difficult to vote in person. If their requests to vote by mail are rejected, they will likely not be able to make it to the polls to cast a ballot.
SB1 complicated the mail-in voting process by requiring voters to add the last four digits of their social security number or driver’s license number to their request and ballot. This must match what is in their voter registration record. This does not have to be the number the voter originally registered with but does have to be associated with your record. One way to increase the chance of success is to include both numbers.
SB1 also complicates the process of assisting voters with disabilities. Those who are assisting these voters are not required to take an oath promising they will only help “reading the ballot to the voter, directing the voter to read the ballot, marking the voter’s ballot, or directing the voter to mark the ballot.” This cuts back on the amount of assistance voters with disabilities can receive and blocks those assisting from ensuring that ballots are properly received and cast. In the lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice, the DOJ stated that the law prevented “answering basic questions, responding to requests to clarify ballot translations or confirming that voters with visual impairments have marked a ballot as intended.” If you are interested in learning more about that lawsuit, you can check out our blog. Perhaps the scariest thing about this is that the oath helpers must take is under penalty of perjury. This means that they can face serious consequences if anything they do is misconstrued as illegal.
Such an oath can scare off many people who want to help voters with disabilities cast their ballot, resulting in people with disabilities being further disenfranchised. At Rideshare2Vote, we are committed to ensuring that all voters are able to cast their ballot. We are one of the only rides to the polls services in the country to provide ADA rides and train all our volunteer drivers and assist voters with disabilities.
This law also rolls back some options for early voting. It bans drive-in voting, which was popularized during the pandemic. It also limits early voting hours to between 6 am and 10 pm and bans 24-hour voting centers. These methods were employed by bluer counties, specifically Harris County, in 2020, where they saw significant use. These methods also saw higher rates of use among BIPOC voters, who are more likely to have a job that is not a 9 to 5.
Although the law did expand early voting access in some smaller counties by increasing the number of hours they had to be open in the second week of early voting, the effect of these changes are negligible as compared to the many voters who will have a much harder time voting at all in 2022.
The rollout of this law has caused an incredible level of confusion for voters. Opponents of the law say that this was intentional, as it is disenfranchising BIPOC voters, who tend to vote blue, the most. Many voters are not aware of the changes in what must be included in their requests for a mail-in ballot, resulting in astonishing rates of rejection. Some Democrats allege that this lack of information is not a mistake but rather by design.
One particular facet of this law that has faced backlash is the provision that bans election officials from soliciting or encouraging mail-in voting. The Harris County Attorney’s Office is suing the state over this provision. This lawsuit is on behalf of election administrator Isabel Longoria, who claims that the provision violates her First Amendment rights. The prosecution claims that the law makes it a crime to solicit mail-in ballots. They also say that not openly encouraging mail-in voting has caused confusion and led to the high number of ballots being rejected.
A federal judge set a preliminary injunction on that portion of the bill on February 11th. This prevents election officials from being prosecuted for encouraging mail-in ballots. Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, has said he will be appealing the injunction in a Tweet.
Early voting numbers across Texas have been incredibly low. Although not all ballots are in at this point, these numbers are lagging behind historical figures, which are pretty low, to begin with. As of February 20, only 3.5% of registered voters in Travis have cast a ballot. That is compared to 11.46% who voted this way in 2018. In Williamson County, the numbers are 4.37% as compared to 20.11%. And this trend expands beyond these counties. Across Texas, only 4.4% of registered voters have cast a ballot as of February 21; in 2018, 17.2% of registered voters cast a ballot. How much of this is a direct result of SB1, we don’t know, but it has undoubtedly had an impact.
SB1 has proven to be the absolute disaster that its opponents claimed it would. The law has drastically increased the rejection rate of mail-in ballots and requests due to poor rollout and confusion. And we have yet to see the full impact of this law on voters. Texas Republicans have proved once again that they are determined to make it harder to vote, especially for BIPOC and voters with disabilities.
In times like these, it is more important than ever that we get out the vote and ensure that transportation is not a barrier. So, if you are in need of a ride to the polls, you can request a ride here or give us a call at 888-977-2250. All our rides are completely free and round trip.
by Betsy Zalinski
