Texas election officials have rejected hundreds of mail-in ballot applications, abiding by a new Republican-backed law just weeks before a March 1 primary kicks off this year's U.S. election cycle.
"My friends, this is what voter suppression looks like," Democrat Dana DeBeauvoir, the Travis County clerk, told reporters on Tuesday.
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who signed the bill in September and is seeking re-election this year, has said the law, known as Senate Bill 1, will increase public trust in elections. That leaves some voters playing a "guessing game," DeBeauvoir said, because many people cannot recall which number they provided originally and there is no easy way for voters to check.
Other provisions in the law are also creating obstacles, she said. The office previously added a sticker with voters' addresses to applications that were mailed out to save them a step, but that is no longer permitted, Callanen said.
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