Some Trump supporters want a do-over. What Texas law says you can (or not) do with a ballot
With the latest selection of conservative celebrities to government offices by President-elect Donald Trump, some people who voted for him have expressed voter remorse.
“I regret voting for Trump. I’ll reiterate that I live in an always very red state so it didn’t matter but I still symbolically am starting to feel quite dumb about it,” one X user wrote on the social media site.
Another X user wrote to Trump “Already regretting voting for you… these cabinet appointees are just not it trump.”
The Star-Telegram spoke with the Texas Secretary of State to find out what the election code says about this dilemma.
Assistant Secretary of State for Communications Alicia Pierce said the short answer is no; you can’t change your vote after it’s already been cast.
“Once you pass it when you’re voting in person, you’ll have an opportunity to review your selection. People may have questions, or they may want to change it based on that, but once you cast the ballot, you cannot change your vote,” Pierce said.
“You could cancel your ballot before you voted to go vote in person, but once you’ve cast your ballot, either in person or by mail, you cannot change how you voted.”
Can you fix a mistake on a ballot after voting?
Pierce says if you voted by mail and didn’t include the correct identification information, you can add it or change it, but that’s on a different part of your entire ballot.
“It’s not on the actual ballot itself, or you’re voting for the candidates,” she said. “That’s on what’s called the carrier envelope, so there’s no identifying information on the ballot. It wouldn’t even be possible to go back and pull it out and change it.”
What about errors made on a Texas paper ballot?
If there are readability problems with your paper ballot, officials will really redo it for you. Section 52.006 of the Election Code expressly permits a number of error correcting techniques.
These techniques include creating new ballots, putting correction stickers on the ballots, and concealing or marking inaccurate information.
The code further states that the person in charge of preparing the official ballot must notify the secretary of state in writing no later than 24 hours following their decision to create fresh ballots with the correction made.
A description of the type of repair that needs to be done must also be included in the notice.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 3:24 PM.
