Following a scandal in Harris Country, Texas, involving approximately 10,000 uncounted votes, authorities in Bexar County confirmed that more than 1,900 mail ballots cast in the March 1 primary were rejected for not complying to new voting guidelines.
The Texas state legislature passed a bill last year to safeguard the integrity of statewide elections. The bill imposes new voting guidelines, particularly for mail-in balloting.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen said that about 4,180 mail ballots were accepted and 1,929 were rejected for not meeting the requirements under the new voting law.
Noting the surprisingly high number, Callanen told KSAT, “We’ve never seen it in those numbers.”
The new law, SB 1, requires voters to write the ID number associated with their registration or the last four digits of their Social Security number on a mail ballot envelope.
“We’re going to just do public service announcements, everything we possibly can to not have this happen again,” Callanen said, noting she believes some people were confused by the new guidelines.
Election officials in Harris County reported multiple irregularities—including thousands of uncounted and uncountable ballots. Amid the controversy, Election Commissioner Isabel Longoria announced her resignation on Wednesday.
“Today I am submitting my resignation, effective July 1,” Longoria said in an announcement:
“I think this date ensures that there is a presiding officer during the May and June elections and allows the election commission the time they need to find a replacement. I remain committed to the office and its mission and hope to aid in defeating harmful rhetoric to ensure successful elections in the future.”
Some fear the problems in the relatively small-scale Texas primary portend massive problems in the important midterms later this year.
Democrats charge that GOP-led “election reform” measures are racist.
DNC spokesperson and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Stacey Abrams, claims that measures to ensure that ballots are cast by eligible voters are racist, saying such measures are “a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie.”
At a Black History Month celebration at the White House last month, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed: One of the “great challenges” America faces is how Republicans are making it more difficult for people of color to vote.”
“And today, of course, our nation faces many great challenges,” warned Harris. “Among the greatest is the assault on the freedom to vote — the freedom from which all others flow.”
According to The Epoch Times, election officials report the rejection of 725 ballots in El Paso County and 521 in Williamson County, a nearly even split evenly between Republican and Democratic primary voters.
The Associated Press reported the rejection of approximately 27,000 ballots across Texas for not complying with the current voting guidelines.
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