Texas rejected 27,000 mail-in ballots in primary election under new election law

The AP analysis suggests that the number of rejected votes in the lone star state this year will exceed previous elections by a wide margin. In 2020, about 8,300 mail-in ballots were rejected in the state, according to AP, representing less than 1% of mail-in ballots cast in Texas.

However, the news agency noted that the final number of rejected mail-in ballots from this year’s primaries will be less than currently recorded, as voters had until Monday to “fix” their rejected ballots, according to AP.

This month’s primary was the first time votes were cast under Texas’ new election law, which Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) signed in September. Democrats quickly filed a lawsuit against the law.

The law requires voters to present identification when casting their ballot, bans 24-hour polling places, imposes new regulations on drive-in voting and voting by mail, and gives more power to partisan poll watchers to observe elections. .

Most of the ballots marked for reject did not have identification that matched what the state had on fileAP found.

State election law requires mail-in voters to provide a Texas driver’s license number, a Texas identification number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number, any of which must match the number on their voter registration file.