INCOMING: Texas Local Officials Prepare for Voter ID Issues in Upcoming Primary

[Image courtesy of Sharkadina]

Often, when I talk to audiences about the role of election officials in the political process, I refer to them as “grenade catchers” – the women and men who end up dealing with the various issues that arise because of our complex and sometimes confusing election system.

The latest example of that is Texas officials’ preparations for the March primary, which will be the largest to date since the state’s voter ID law became effective. As I blogged last year, local officials have already discovered that the new law has flagged many voters whose names are not the same on their voter record and their ID, leaving it to localities to resolve the problems. With so many more voters expected in the upcoming primary, county officials are bracing themselves. The Star-Telegram has more:

As the March primary election approaches, election officials throughout the state are gearing up for potential problems.

This March 4 primary will be the biggest election since the state’s Voter ID law, which requires voters to show government issued photo identification at the polls, went into effect last year.

Dallas election officials have sent out hundreds of thousands of notes to voters informing them of potential problems with the way their names are listed on photo ID cards versus the way they are listed in the voter registration database.

Tarrant County officials chose not to sent out notes, saying any name problem can be handled at the polls.

“We are taking a different approach and we will let voters handle it at the polling place,” said Steve Raborn, Tarrant County’s election administrator. “You could send these postcards out and ask people if they want to match their names beforehand.

“My greater concern is that it might cause voter confusion and could even make someone not vote.”

State lawmakers approved the voter ID measure in 2011, but it didn’t go into effect in Texas elections until last year. Voter turnout this year is expected to be much greater.

As a result of the new law, officials say they’ve found that many voters’ names don’t identically match on a person’s voter registration card and photo ID.

The biggest problem for local officials is that the state’s guidance – and tools to help resolve mismatches – are broad and uneven, leading different counties to take different approaches:

Those with “substantially similar” names are allowed to sign an affidavit stating they are the same person.

“The Secretary of State’s guidelines are very broad,” Raborn said. “A name really has to be completely different to not be accepted. Differences in middle names, or name changes because of marriage or divorce, are easily taken care of.

“It’s a minor inconvenience to check a box at the polling site…”

At one point, to try to create a working database, voter registration rolls were joined with names the Texas Department of Public Safety has of Texans with identification cards or driver licenses.

“Counties can request the numbers,” said Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. “But these lists were never meant to be put together.

“Those numbers are not really an effective measure of where there can be problems,” she said. “But it’s a tool counties can use…”

Some counties such as Dallas — which joined a lawsuit last year challenging the Voter ID law — are using such or similar lists to reach out to voters. They recently sent nearly 200,000 notices to voters about potential name problems.

It’s up to each county to decide the best way to address potential Voter ID problems.

“This is a county-by-county decision,” Pierce said.

Regardless of what official do in advance, voters whose names don’t match are given an opportunity to correct that on Election Day – and hopefully forever:

[V]oters can sign an affidavit certifying they are registered to vote. And they can fill out a short form to eliminate differences in the way their names are listed in the future.

“It is a minor inconvenience at the worst,” Raborn said.

Regardless of whether voters have had their name issues flagged in advance, another thing to watch for on primary day is whether the number of mismatches is high enough to create backups at the polls. If so, you can be sure election officials will hear about it.

In other words, come what may Texas county election officials will probably need to keep their grenade-catching gloves handy.

Stay tuned.