HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Did a change to the vote-by-mail process last year result in more ballots being rejected in the primary election?
Under Senate Bill 1, Texans who vote by mail now need to provide either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number — twice. Once on their absentee application forms and again on the ballot return envelope.
Richard asked the VERIFY team, “Is it true that a lot of mail-in ballots were rejected during the primary election?”
Our source for this is the Harris County Elections Office Deputy Director of Communications Nadia Hakim.
“Prior to Senate Bill 1 being implemented, we had a percentage of 1% being rejected. Then, on March 1, we had almost 20% of mail ballots being rejected,” Hakim said.
Hakim said there was a reason for that.
The application and ballot require that you provide either, your Texas driver’s license number or the last four digits of your social security number. Whichever you use, it must match what the Harris County Clerk has on file.
“It’s whatever you registered with all those years ago. I don’t even remember what I had for lunch last week, you know, never mind what I registered to vote with. So, what we are telling folks is, when in doubt fill both out,” Hakim said.
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Hakeem said a lot of folks provided one, and it did not match the clerk’s records. If that’s the case, your ballot will likely bounce back.
So, we can verify that yes, a lot of mail-in ballots were rejected in Harris County during the March primary.
If you want to vote by mail in this upcoming election, your application is due by October 28. Your ballot must be postmarked by Election Day.