TEXAS, USA — The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is reinstating a portion of Texas' voting law that prevents election officials from encouraging people to register to vote by mail, according to Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee.
"I’m extremely disappointed by this decision, Menefee tweeted. "One thing that’s clear from the high percentage of mail ballot app rejections we’ve seen is officials should be empowered to explain the process and encourage folks to vote by mail."
Last Friday, a federal judge in San Antonio ruled that SB 1 likely violated the 1st and 14th amendments.
The decision to reinstate this portion of the voting law means elections officials can now be prosecuted if they help citizens vote.
Menefee, along with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Elections Administrator Eva Longoria, drafted a letter to the Department of Justice asking the agency to intervene.
According to a letter written to the Department of Justice, as of Feb. 15, out of the more than 33,000 vote-by-mail applications received in Harris County, nearly 4,600 mail-in applications have been flagged for rejection due to the new voter identification requirements under SB 1.
The letter also states that out of the 9,809 mail ballots received in Harris County, 3,491 have been flagged for rejection and returned to the voter under SB 1.
"SB 1 is therefore achieving exactly what its authors set out to do: erect more hurdles in front of the ballot box and systemically suppress the vote in Harris County," the letter read.
To make sure your mail-in ballot request isn't rejected, Longoria's best advice is to include your phone number and/or email in the application so they can call you in case there's something that needs to be corrected.
And if you have any questions about the process, you can always call Harris County Elections at 713-755-6965. The deadline to request a mail-in ballot for the primary is Feb. 18.
The deadline to apply to vote by mail is next Friday, Feb. 18.