Rejected mail-in ballot applications have advocates worried about impact on elderly, disabled voters

A back-and-forth between Texas elections officials over “high” levels of rejected mail-in ballot applications has left advocates worried about the impact on elderly or disabled voters. Molly Broadway, a training and technical support specialist for voting rights for Disability Rights Texas, said she was bracing for an influx of calls to their voter hotline after the Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir announced her office had rejected as many as 50% of the applications they had received. In a press conference on Tuesday, DeBeauvoir clarified that after a review, they believe about 27% of applications have been rejected. She blamed the new election law passed by lawmakers last fall and slammed the new restrictions, calling them “voter suppression.”

In response, Texas Secretary of State John Scott, “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.” DeBeauvoir emphasized the restrictions placed on elections officials when communicating with voters in Tuesday’s press conference, and she also stated “For people with disabilities, this is a big hurdle to get over.” In addition to the new requirements for ID numbers on mail-in ballot applications, SB1 also increases potential criminal penalties for people who assist voters. They are required to fill out paperwork disclosing their relationship to that voter and must recite an expanded oath stating they did not “pressure or coerce” the voter. They must limit their assistance to “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.”