Minority voters 50% more likely to have ballots rejected under new Texas voting law, study finds

Early voting in Texas begins today through Friday, November 4, 2022. The general election is November 8th. By all means, research your ballot. Compliments of Laura Yeager, here is a nonpartisan research page that provides you with great information on candidates' positions on public education so that you can be an informed voter. She also provides great information on who the elected leaders are in our state who make education-related decisions. Thanks, Laura, for your dedication and hard work on this.

The piece below should affirm, above all else, the need for every person in our state to get out and vote as members of a democracy, particularly since democracy itself is on the ballot. 

-Angela Valenzuela 

Minority voters 50% more likely to have ballots rejected under new Texas voting law, study finds

The state's new mail voting requirements caused nearly 25,000 ballots to be rejected in the March primaries.

by Benjamin Wermund | Oct. 20, 2022 | San Antonio Express-News

WASHINGTON — Voters of color were 50 percent more likely than white voters to have mail ballots rejected under a new Texas law that restricted voting by mail, according to a new study detailing "massive disenfranchisement" under the law.

VOTING HEADACHE: For a Texas family, voting by mail meant 5 applications, 3 different outcomes and a 5-week wait

The law — passed by Texas Republicans in 2021 in the name of election integrity — requires absentee voters to include either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on the ballot. The number has to match what the voter put on their registration form, but advocates say many voters forget which number is on file or overlook it on their ballots.

The requirement caused nearly 25,000 ballots and 12,000 applications for them to be rejected in the March primaries. The rejection rate was 12.4 percent statewide, with a slightly more pronounced rate in Democratic primaries, at 12.9 percent compared with 11.8 percent of Republican ballots, according to figures from the Texas Secretary of State.

An analysis of those rejections by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice found Latino, Asian and Black voters were significantly more likely to have both applications and ballots rejected under the new requirement.

EARLIER THIS YEAR: Texas woman recounts her mail ballot hassle

The study found that Asian-American voters had either their applications or ballots rejected at a rate of 19 percent. The rejection rate among Black voters was nearly 17 percent, and it was 16 percent for Latino voters. The rejection rate for white voters was less than 12 percent.

The racial disparities were larger for ballot rejections than application rejections. Voters of color were at least 47 percent more likely than white voters to have their ballots rejected. Asian-American and Latino voters were each more than 50 percent more likely to have a ballot rejected than white voters. 

According to the study, more than 15 percent of Asian-American voters had mail ballots rejected. Nearly 15 percent of Latino voters and nearly 14 percent of Black voters had ballots turned down. Just more than 9 percent of white voters saw their ballots rejected. 

"Texas’s S.B. 1 is a prime example of the anti-voter legislation sweeping the nation," the study says. "This analysis makes clear that just one of its many provisions is already causing serious problems in election administration, disenfranchising significant numbers of Americans — especially people of color."

KNOW THE CANDIDATES: Houston Chronicle Voter Guide / San Antonio Express-News Voter Guide

Texas was one of several GOP states that pushed new restrictions after the 2020 elections, when former President Donald Trump falsely claimed widespread fraud cost him the election, due in large part to an increase in mail-in voting. 

Republican lawmakers who supported the legislation have said voters’ troubles are part of a normal learning curve that will eventually improve over time with education. They have said the new rules were needed to bolster election integrity, though Attorney General Ken Paxton's staff spent 20,000 hours looking for voter fraud last year, focusing on the 2020 elections, and didn't uncover anything beyond isolated incidents affecting a handful of votes in an election in which more than 11 million Texans cast ballots.

The law sparked legal challenges, including by the U.S. Department of Justice, and failed attempts by Democrats in Congress to pass new national voting rights legislation. The Brennan Center has also challenged the law in court. 

Texas has among the strictest mail voting laws in the nation. It is one of just 15 states that requires an excuse to vote by mail, and state leaders have resisted changes to make the process easier that have been adopted elsewhere, including allowing voters to apply for mail ballots online and sending ballots to all voters. 

ben.wermund@chron.com

Texas New Voter ID Requirements for the Nov. 2016 Elections/ Requisitos Nuevos para la ID de Votantes en Tejas para las Elecciones de Noviembre 2016

Judge Orders Texas to Rewrite Voter ID Education Materials

This piece captures Texas' struggle with VoterID —which should have never been a struggle to begin with.  Despite U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos' orders to issue new voter education materials in the context of the July U.S. Supreme Court finding of non-compliance with the Voting Rights Act, our leadership intimates more of what's in store...

On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick — a Republican who co-authored Senate Bill 14 — called for lawmakers to pass new voter identification requirements next year.
“We have a judge, a Democrat, who’s just eviscerating our photo voter ID. We’re going to have to pass it again come January when we go back into session,” he said on the The Laura Ingraham Show. 

It was not clear whether he meant lawmakers should pass less-stringent ID requirements that may be more likely to withstand legal scrutiny or an equally stringent measure.

I think we can anticipate what the end game here is...

Disenfranchisement comes to mind.  What these republican state leaders surely fear is the loss of their incumbencies lest a more open process, among other "unthinkable" things, results in an increasing presence of judges like U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos that symbolize a portent of things to come....

U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos

Folks are always critical of our low voter turnout for elections in our state, particularly Hispanics.  We should be equally critical of our leadership that has been on a consistent, seemingly never-ending campaign to curtail the vote, our vote.

The struggle continues....

Angela Valenzuela
c/s

Judge Orders Texas to Rewrite Voter ID Education Materials

• by Jim Malewitz / Sept. 20, 2016

A federal judge has ordered Texas to issue new voter education materials, siding with those who accused state officials of misleading voters about identification requirements for the November elections.
U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos on Tuesday ordered changes to certain press releases, posters placed at polling locations and materials on state websites related to voting in the Nov. 8 elections.
She is also requiring that “all materials related to the education of voters, poll workers, and election officials that have not yet been published shall reflect the language” of a prior court order allowing those who arrive at the polls without one of seven forms of photo identification required under state law to cast a ballot.
Ramos' order came after the federal government and other groups challenging the state’s photo ID law — ruled discriminatory by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit — accused Texas of circulating “inaccurate or misleading information” about a temporary fix she ordered for the upcoming election. 

Though voters who possess photo identification are expected to bring it to the polls in November, those without it still have the opportunity to vote. They may sign an affidavit certifying they are U.S. citizens and present proof of residence, such as a utility bill, bank statement or paycheck.

Ramos last month ordered Texas to spend $2.5 million to educate the public about these relaxed requirements.
That order said Texas must educate voters about "the opportunity for voters who do not possess" photo identification "and cannot reasonably obtain it to cast a regular ballot.”
But the U.S. Department of Justice and other plaintiffs argued that Texas recast the language of that order by limiting voting to those with photo IDs or those who “have not obtained” and “cannot obtain” such identification.
The key difference, plaintiffs argued, was that Texas stripped the word “reasonably,” potentially discouraging those who could obtain photo identification only after surpassing significant hurdles.
Chad Dunn, a Houston-based attorney who represented groups suing the state, suggested the difference was more significant than it might initially sound.
“The fear is that somebody hears that 'can't' language and thinks: ‘I can drive to Arkansas and get my birth certificate, and I can get back today and get down to an office, and potentially get an ID issued — but I’d miss picking my kids up from school, and I’d miss an intolerable amount of income from work,” he said. “So I have an impediment for doing so, but I suppose it’s possible” to get a photo ID.
“It’s troubling that the state chose to use language in some of its advertisements that didn’t track exactly the court’s order,” Dunn added.
Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos, said Tuesday that her office's "No. 1 objective is and remains educating voters as clearly and efficiently as possible. We are prepared to respond to the order.”
In a 9-6 ruling in July, the federal appeals court ruled that Texas’ ID law, known as Senate Bill 14, violated the federal Voting Rights Act because black and Latino potential voters were less likely than others to possess ID from the narrowly drawn list of what’s acceptable at the polls.
Texas officials claim these rules prevent voter fraud, which Gov. Greg Abbott has called "rampant." But opponents — backed by court rulings — have pointed out that in-person voter fraud is incredibly rare.
The appeals court ordered Ramos to draw up a temporary fix for the law, and later weigh meatier issues such as whether Texas lawmakers intentionally discriminated against minority groups in passing the law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, plans to appeal the July ruling this week to the U.S. Supreme Court, spokesman Marc Rylander told The Texas Tribune. Asked about Ramos' latest order, he said his office was "pleased" that Ramos denied a motion from private plaintiffs to change the affidavit voters without ID must sign and that she decided some of the educational materials complied with her order.
"Our office still maintains the common-sense measures in Texas voter ID law are valid," Rylander said.
On Monday, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick — a Republican who co-authored Senate Bill 14 — called for lawmakers to pass new voter identification requirements next year.
“We have a judge, a Democrat, who’s just eviscerating our photo voter ID. We’re going to have to pass it again come January when we go back into session,” he said on the The Laura Ingraham Show. 
It was not clear whether he meant lawmakers should pass less-stringent ID requirements that may be more likely to withstand legal scrutiny or an equally stringent measure.
Patrick’s office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Read more about voter ID here:

• Texas agreed to terms that will weaken its voter ID law and that lawyers suing the state say will make it easier for minorities to cast a ballot in the November general election.
• The federal government is accusing Texas of circulating “inaccurate or misleading information” to poll workers and would-be voters about relaxed identification requirements for the November elections.

Donald Trump hates on Mexicans and his poll numbers go up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Donald Trump hates on Mexicans and his poll numbers go up—and in fact narrows Clinton's lead (see Fox News Poll: Trump narrows Clinton's lead)

Folks, please insist to everyone you know that they and their grandmother must vote so that we don't get this fascist xenophobe into power. 

 

MARK  THESE DATES ON YOUR CALENDARS (taken from this website on the 2016 presidential election).

In Texas, early voting takes place Oct 24–Nov 4. All registered Texas voters are eligible to vote early. And they must do so in person and with an ID (see below).

Otherwise, vote on November 8. Polls open 7 AM–7 PM. If you’re in line at your polling location by 7 PM, you’re allowed to vote.

ID requirements

Again, for Texas, bring ONE of the following. The ID must be current, or be expired for less than 4 years:

• Texas driver license issued by the Department of Public Safety
• Texas election ID certificate
• Texas personal ID card
• Texas license to carry a handgun
• US military ID card with your photograph
• US citizenship certificate containing your photograph (doesn’t need to be current)
• US passport

If you don’t have any of these, you’ll need to (1) sign a sworn statement that there is a reason why you don’t have any of the IDs listed above, and (2) bring one of the following:

• Valid voter registration certificate
• Certified birth certificate
• Current utility bill
• Government check
• Pay stub or bank statement that includes your name and address
• Copy of or original government document with your name and an address (original required if it contains a photograph).

#DumpTrump