Thread by @donmoyn

New Texas voting laws are seeing 25-40% of mail ballots rejected in some counties. Predictable outcome of new administrative burdens leading to disenfranchisement. 1/
washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

If you add novel and unexpected requirements to the voting process - asking people to write down their social security number or a special TX id number with the ballot - some people will miss them. 2/

At a polling place, a pollworker might be able to help you fix this oversight. But with mail voting, they have to contact you, get you a new ballot or ask you to come in. Again, this increases the cost of voting, and makes it more likely some will not vote. 3/

This is an example of new policies imposing new administrative burdens both on the public and administrator who face new and more complex tasks - not just checking IDs, but also outreach, and helping people cure their defect ballot. Offices with fewer resources will fail more. 4/

Who will these policies most affect? Most obviously, older and disabled voters, who are the primary users of TX mail ballots. Also voters less aware of the changes, and those living in less well-resourced counties where VBM might be more attractive. 5/

The new ID mail requirement is just one part of a broader effort to make voting more onerous. The state added criminal penalties to errors in voter registration, and then delayed sharing voting registration materials. (It subsequently said old materials would be allowable). 6/

What is the point of all of this? Some say "election integrity" but they are unable to provide evidence of significant failures that the laws resolve. And so instead, having ginned up fears about fraud, they say its restoring "confidence" in the system. 7/

If you say your goal is confidence in the election process, consider this:
How much confidence can people have in a system where their vote is not counted? Where the state has deliberately made voting more confusing and more difficult, rather than simple and accessible. 8/