The holdup comes as early voting in the March primaries is set to begin Feb. 17. The cards aren’t required to cast a ballot, but they identify voters’ congressional districts, which were redrawn last year.
Texas’ unusual mid-decade redistricting and problems with the state’s new voter registration system have delayed the mailing of voter registration certificates, the documents that give voters information about their polling place and their assigned districts, state and local officials say.
Under state law, the certificates should have been issued by Dec. 6, though there’s no penalty for a late mailing. With early voting for the March 3 primaries set to begin Feb. 17, the delay has confused some voters who were expecting to have received the certificates by now, and multiple election officials said they have been fielding calls and questions about the missing certificates for weeks.
Voters don’t need the cards to vote, but election officials say the cards can serve as an additional form of ID and help voters identify their new congressional or legislative district if it has changed. They also help election officials conduct voter list maintenance: When a card is returned as undeliverable, it signals that the voter may have moved.
Redistricting puts added strain on TEAM
Most of the state’s 254 counties rely on the Secretary of State’s free election and voter registration management system, called TEAM, to produce the certificates. Local election officials have for months complained that they are struggling with the system, which was overhauled in July, and several election officials said that is contributing to the delay.
State election officials said they also didn’t anticipate the system needing to handle the unexpected midcycle redistricting lawmakers undertook last year, and the redrawn boundaries are creating additional complications. Alicia Pierce, a spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, said the state is still working with “several counties” to upload redistricting data, including Harris and Tarrant counties, which could not begin the process until they completed special runoff elections Jan. 31.
The system has lagged in producing reports containing large amounts of data and images that county officials need to print the certificates. Those reports are reviewed by both state and local election administrators to ensure voters’ information, including street addresses, cities, precincts, and districts, is accurate.
“This involves a massive upload of data to our system and then a careful review of voter data and validations at the county level to ensure accurate voter lists,” Pierce said. She did not respond to specific questions about election officials’ comments about TEAM.
Counties that use an outside vendor instead of TEAM to manage their voter rolls, including Collin County in North Texas and Nueces County in South Texas, mailed out the certificates to voters in late January.
Time is short for updating voter rolls
In Brazos County, which uses TEAM, election administrator Trudy Hancock counts on having time to update her voter lists after the initial mailing of voter registration cards. She typically gets more than 10,000 of them returned to her office as undeliverable. Brazos is home to College Station and Texas A&M University, and voters there are constantly moving either within the county or elsewhere.
The returned cards help election officials identify voters who may have moved and can be placed on the suspense list. Those voters have a chance to update their registration at the polls before they can vote.
But as of Wednesday, Hancock hadn’t been able to mail the certificates to her voters yet. She doubts she’ll have time to process returned certificates in time to flag voters before the March 3 primaries.
“Even if voter certificates went out this week, we’re not going to get that done in time to update the pollbooks,” Hancock said.
Tandi Smith, the Kaufman County elections administrator, also has not yet been able to mail out certificates to voters and said she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to. Kaufman has more than 117,000 registered voters.
“For us, especially in a growing county with a smaller staff, we’re having to adjust when a system should be functional and meeting our needs,” Smith said. “So we’re just trying to work through those growing pains until there’s a better way.”
Waiting for your card? Here’s what you need to know.
Do I need my voter registration certificate to vote?
No. However, your certificate can help you identify your precinct, and congressional and state districts and can serve as an additional form of ID. Certificates have an expiration date on them, but that doesn’t mean your registration has expired.
I was mailed a certificate for someone who no longer lives at my address. Should I discard it?
No. If possible, return it to your county elections office. This helps election officials identify voters who have moved and can help poll workers know which voters need to update their address during an election.
If I haven’t gotten my certificate, how can I look up my precinct?
Voters can check their registration status and voting precinct at VoteTexas.gov. Reach out to your local voter registrar for detailed information about county, city, and congressional districts.
Source: , Votebeat and
Photo Credit: Lily Trieu, interim executive director of Asian Texans for Justice, holds a voter registration card on Oct. 11, 2022 in Austin. May-Ying Lam for The Texas Tribune
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