Texas GOP voters are getting tripped up by their own party's new voting restrictions

[LetMyPeopleVote]

This amuses me. I have been volunteering to work on voter protection efforts since 2004. Vote by mail has historically been a key part of the GOP GOTV efforts in Texas. For example, vote by mail was exempted from the GOP voter id/voter suppression law. Starting in 2012, the Texas party has been pushing hard to get our voters to use vote by mail and in 2018 and 2020, the number of Democratic Vote by mail and GOP vote by mail were basically even. The GOP emphasis on the "Big Lie" and TFG hatred of vote by mail have caused the Texas GOP to make it very difficult to use vote by mail. Many Texas Democrats who can use vote by mail are not doing so due to the new restrictions.

I am amused to see that these restrictions may be hurting the GOP more than Democrats

Link to tweet

https://www.rawstory.com/texas-election-election-problems/

As the report notes, several new rules passed by Texas Republicans in the wake of the 2020 elections put more stringent requirements on mail-in ballots.

One rule passed by Republican lawmakers mandates that voters must put either their drivers license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on the envelope containing their ballot.

This has led to a higher number of rejected ballots: Ballot rejections in 2020 ran about 0.8 percent, but in 2022 they're at 12 percent. The number might seem low, but that's equal to at least 7,000 people in one Texas county.

Republicans had a higher rate of error than Democrats, meaning there are thousands more Republicans in the state whose ballots aren't being counted in the primary election.

I am eligible to use vote by mail but voted in person. I know a good number of other Democrats who are doing the same.

[Vinca]

1. Republicans making these laws should realize their voters aren't the brightest bulbs in the box.

[Jerry2144]

3. Right

They’re really bright bulbs like an amaryllis bulb placed in a box of dimmable 1200 lumen LED light bulbs

[Jerry2144]

4. And

Sharp as a bowling ball

[MineralMan]

2. Unintended Consequences.

They get stupid people all the time.

[LeftInTX]

5. This isn't factual

More Democrats than Republicans had mail-in ballots rejected in the March Primary.

Of 24,636 rejected mail-in ballots, 14,281 belonged to voters attempting to participate in the Democratic primary, and 10,355 belonged to voters in the Republican primary. But the rejection rate by party was fairly aligned; 12.9% of Democratic ballots were rejected and 11.8% of Republican ballots were rejected.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/06/texas-mail-in-ballot-rejection-voting/

[ShazzieB]

17. I guess it depends on whom one chooses to believe.

Personally, I find the Newsy report (which the Raw Story is based on) to be much more compelling than the Secretary of State's claims.

If you haven't watched the video yet, I highly recommend doing so, either at the Raw Story link or here: https://www.newsy.com/stories/how-a-new-voting-law-tripped-up-thousands-of-voters/?jwsource=cl

[LeftInTX]

18. I have my own local election results..

I worked with voters whose ballots were rejected.

I would screen shot, but am on my phone.

[NQAS]

6. Can I have a show of hands?

Anyone surprised by this?

We’ll see it in Florida too.

[exboyfil]

7. I worry about access to voting machines on election day

Both the numbers per machine and the possibility of logistic interference.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. Most of the larger counties in Texas are using voting centers/county wide voting

This means that you can vote anywhere in the county and can be diverted to another voting center if the line is too long.

My son voted today in Harris County and there was no line for the GOP vote but a long line for Democratic voters

[ananda]

9. Same. I am voting in person these days.

So far so good.

[IronLionZion]

10. I love it when a stupid malicious plan backfires badly

[Martin68]

11. Trumpists don't worry about details like rules and regulations. They will choose their own electors

and send them to Washington to choose the Trumpist candidate regardless if the number votes for anybody.

[Lonestarblue]

12. I haven't seen the mail ballots, but I've read that the ID is confusing.

Supposedly, you have to use the same ID as when you first registered to vote, not just either a SS number or a driver’s license number. So if you registered to vote 40 years ago and don’t remember which number you used or you no longer drive and have a different ID number, your ballot can be thrown out. Also, you have yo sign both the ballot and the envelope, and the place on the envelope for the signature to be is not marked.

I believe the plan behind these ridiculous ridiculous was to deliberately cause confusion. Texas voters who are Republican primarily live in rural areas or in suburbs around the large cities, while Democratic voters are the majority in large cities. Those behind this legislation figured that elections clerks in rural counties, with far fewer voters, would have time to help Republicans correct their ballots. Elections clerks in large counties don’t have time to contact thousands of people whose ballots are being rejected for what is in reality minor clerical errors.

I hope this backfires big time on the Republicans.

[LeftInTX]

19. The rural counties are also on the TEAMS system

[They link directly to SOS.

This hurts Dems.

Raw Story is pretty much fake news

[Lonestarblue]

20. First I've heard of the TEAMS system. How do rural counties use it?

[LeftInTX]

21. Voters are all in databases. The rural counties can sync with SOS

Large counties use different software and they had to manually upload data to SOS

[Lonestarblue]

23. Thank you!

[orleans]

13. then there is the shit show in PA

b/c people didn't put the date on the envelope

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The national and state Republican parties are taking the same side as celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s neck-and-neck GOP primary contest for U.S. Senate and opposing a lawsuit that could help former hedge fund CEO David McCormick close the gap in votes.

The court battle could go to the U.S. Supreme Court. McCormick’s lawsuit was filed late Monday, less than 24 hours before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline for counties to report their unofficial results to the state.

In it, McCormick asked the state Commonwealth Court to require counties to obey a brand-new federal appeals court decision and promptly count mail-in ballots that lack a required handwritten date on the return envelope.

Oz, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has pressed counties not to count the ballots and the Republican National Committee and state GOP said they would go to court to oppose McCormick.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-takes-ozs-side-in-pa-senate-race-vote-counting-lawsuit/2022/05/24/1a47d500-db59-11ec-bc35-a91d0a94923b_story.html

[BumRushDaShow]

14. The PA U.S. Senate race is coming to a head with the GOP battling over mail-in ballots

with competing lawsuits between Oz and McCormick!

[geardaddy]

15. Hoisted by their own petard

as it were.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. told ya so.