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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on lawmakers Monday to prohibit same-day voter registration, in an apparent attempt to reverse a measure passed earlier this year that relaxed rules for voters who made last-minute updates to their addresses.
Texas does not allow same-day registration for new applicants (23 other states do), but under the legislation passed this year with bipartisan support, Senate Bill 2217, voters could update their addresses and immediately cast a ballot based on their new precinct or district, as long as the move was within the county. That law was scheduled to go into effect Sept. 1.
But shortly after Abbott’s announcement, state Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from East Texas, announced on social media that he had filed a bill that would effectively prevent that measure from going into effect.
[GOP state Rep. Briscoe Cain files for redrawn 9th Congressional District]
Cain’s bill would maintain the status quo, in which voters can update their address at the polls, but have to wait 30 days for that change to take effect. Their ballot would include races tied to their old address, the one on file in the state voter registration system before the update.
Abbott’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about why he added the issue to the agenda for the ongoing special legislative session.
Senate Bill 2217, which aimed to make election data reporting and reconciliation consistent across the state, was written by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican from East Texas, and enacted during this year’s regular legislative session.
But the provision allowing voters to cast ballots immediately based on same-day address changes was added through an amendment proposed by Republican state Rep. Matt Shaheen of North Texas, who chairs the House Committee on Elections. It passed the full House with bipartisan support.
Earlier this month, during an election law training for election officials hosted by the Texas secretary of state, some election administrators said they were worried about the new requirement.
Trudy Hancock, head of the elections department in Brazos County, home to Texas A&M University, said students move constantly, and her workers handle change-of-address and statement-of-residency forms at every election. Given the volume of changes, she said, processing them immediately would require her staff to work longer hours each day the polls are open. That’s because the voter’s record has to be updated right away before the information can be uploaded to the state’s registration database, as the new law requires.
“We have to come up with some kind of process to go to each early voting location, pick up those statements-of-residence forms, get them back to the office, process them all before we can upload the history — all before 10 o'clock the next morning,” Hancock said.
And since the voter’s address would be changed by election workers at the polling location, without additional address and mapping verification steps that election officials typically take, Hancock said there’s a risk that voters could get the wrong ballot.
“Our election workers are experienced, but they can make mistakes,” she said. “Not all of them are familiar with every single area of the county.”
Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. She is based in Corpus Christi. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org.
Disclosure: Texas A&M University and the Texas Secretary of State have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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