The number of rejected mail ballots in Texas soared to nearly 13% across most counties in the nation’s first election of 2022.
At least 17 other states in the coming months will cast ballots under tougher election laws, in part driven by Trump's baseless and persistent claims of rampant fraud in the 2020 election. The rejected ballots in Texas alone far exceeds the hundreds of even possible voter fraud cases the AP has previously identified in six battleground states that Trump disputed.
The most rejections were around Houston, a Democratic stronghold, where Harris County elections officials reported that nearly 7,000 mail ballots — about 19% — were discarded. During the last midterm elections in 2018, Texas’ largest county only rejected 135 mail ballots. Harris County elections officials said they received more than 8,000 calls since January from voters seeking help, which they attributed to “confusion and frustration” over the new requirements.
Abbott and top Texas Republicans who championed the changes have largely been silent about the high rejection rates. Abbott's office did not respond to requests seeking comment, and messages for Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan also went unanswered. Federal data on discarded mail ballots in general elections show few instances of double-digit rejection rates. The outliers include Indiana in 2006, Oregon in 2010 and New York in 2018, according to records from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
It is unknown how many Texas voters whose mail ballots were rejected may have still had their vote count by deciding to just show up in person instead.
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