Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2023

CONTACT: press@securedemocracyusa.org

Local Control Threatened, Voter Freedoms at Risk with House-Approved Bills

Some Positive Progress to Improve Vote-by-Mail, Ballot Cure


AUSTIN, Texas –In response to today’s final House votes on a number of voting and election-related bills, Secure Democracy USA’s Senior Policy Director Daniel Griffith released the following statement:

“Texas voters deserve solutions that build confidence in our elections and ensure voter freedom. While the legislature has made some improvements to vote-by-mail and ballot cure processes, unfortunately numerous bills to weaken local control of elections have made their way through the legislative process this week. Election policy should be focused on what is best for voters, not what benefits a political party.”

The restrictive legislation approved on third reading today includes:

S.B. 1750 - Eliminates the Harris County Election Administrator position, usurping local control and shifting election responsibilities in Harris County, home to the nation’s fourth largest city, to the county clerk and county tax assessor-collector. 

S.B. 1933 - Creates oversight of local county election administrators by the Secretary of State, changes in the House bracket this bill to Harris County only and a change which must be approved by the Senate.

S.B. 1070 - Opens the door to the state leaving the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), a move that runs counter to 84% of GOP voters who support the state’s continued use of ERIC to help maintain clean voter rolls.

While these bills represent some of the most restrictive election bills considered this Legislative Session, Senate Bill 1599, headed to the Governor’s desk, makes significant improvements to Texas’s vote-by-mail and ballot cure processes:

  • Streamlined, uniform cure process - Makes needed changes to ensure that mail voters in Texas have an opportunity to correct minor errors on their carrier envelopes. Tasks the Secretary of State to develop a standardized corrective form to be used statewide. 

  • Improvements to the online tracking system - Corrects issues with the online tracking system. Replaces the voter’s registration address with the date of birth as one of the multiple factors used to verify the voter’s identity prior to providing the tracking information. This change should greatly reduce the number of technical issues with the online system.

  • Cure for ballot applications - Extends opportunities to cure minor errors to mail ballot applications. This change is especially important based on some of the experiences with the implementation of SB 1 (87th, 3), which saw a drastic increase in the rate of ballot application rejections in the first elections held after SB 1 became law. 

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Secure Democracy USA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization that works to build confidence in our elections and improve voter access across the United States. We educate policymakers and the public about what it takes to safeguard our voting systems. We use sophisticated survey and messaging research to inform our strategy and we collaborate with state leaders, election administrators, policy  experts, and allies to ensure that all eligible citizens have the freedom to vote how they choose.