Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions

By PAUL J. WEBER and ACACIA CORONADO
March 16, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas threw out mail votes at an abnormally high rate during the nation’s first primary of 2022, rejecting nearly 23,000 ballots outright under tougher voting rules that are part of a broad campaign by Republicans to reshape American elections, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Roughly 13% of mail ballots returned in the March 1 primary were discarded and uncounted across 187 counties in Texas. While historical primary comparisons are lacking, the double-digit rejection rate would be far beyond what is typical in a general election, when experts say anything above 2% is usually cause for attention.

“My first reaction is ‘yikes,’” said Charles Stewart III, director of the Election Data and Science Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It says to me that there’s something seriously wrong with the way that the mail ballot policy is being administered.”

Republicans promised new layers of voting rules would make it “easier to vote and harder to cheat.” But the final numbers recorded by AP lay bare the glaring gulf between that objective and the obstacles, frustration and tens of thousands of uncounted votes resulting from tighter restrictions and rushed implementation.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-elections-texas-voting-only-on-ap-45ba51fe9dd951a0f82015bd6bd9ff41

[rainy]

1. WTH is anyone going to do about this?

[Me.]

2. I Hope All Those Rejected Ballots Turn Out To Be Republicans'

[Rebl2]

3. Hope that's

the case

[lees1975]

4. They're just throwing out ballots to support the baseless claim that mail-in ballots are easy

to use to commit fraud. There wasn't, and never has been any evidence of "cheating" with mail-in ballots anywhere they've ever been used, it is the most fool-proof way to cast a ballot.

There's a guy running for governor down there who is on to all of the tricks. Texas is one of those states where there will be a big turnout in his favor, and a lot of straight ticket Democrat ballots cast in person, to avoid the attempts by the GOP to subvert and suppress the vote. Same thing is going to happen in Georgia. So throw out as many GOP ballots as you can get your hands on, Texas Republicans. You're just helping Democrats figure out how to get around your obstacles and motivating their turnout.

.