Don’t waste time looking for throngs of disenfranchised Texas voters. It didn’t happen
Have you seen them?
You know, the throngs of people who were prevented from voting because of Texas’ new election-security law.
We were told, again and again, that the measure would cripple the ability to vote in Texas. The president himself called such laws worse than the Jim Crow era.
Surely, two weeks after the state’s primary elections, there should be scores of lawsuits, dramatic TV news stories about turned-away voters, marches to protest “disenfranchisement.”
Sorry to sound flippant, but it’s crucial to note when dire political predictions don’t come true. It’s a way of keeping score on whom to listen to next time.
And the simple truth is, despite significant kinks in mail-in balloting that need to be worked out, the law that Texas House Democrats dramatically ran to Washington to stall just didn’t keep people from the ballot box.
In 2018 — the most recent comparable election — more than 2.6 million voters cast ballots in the Republican or Democratic primaries. This year, it was close to 3 million, a 14% increase.
Yes, that’s still a paltry turnout overall. Texas primaries just don’t draw tons of voters. But it’s tough to look at the increase in both primaries and somehow conclude that tons of people who wanted to vote just couldn’t.
VOTING IN TEXAS IS NOT HARD
There’s lots of chatter about how hard it is to vote in Texas. Most of that is difficulty registering, because of a too-early deadline and lack of an online option. But once you’re registered, there’s two weeks of early voting, and large counties allow you to use any polling place.
Everyone 65 and older is eligible to vote by mail, as are the disabled and those who will be out of the state. Some would prefer that anyone be able to vote absentee, but it’s not an assault on democracy to require most voters to go to the polls.
In many ways, it’s never been easier to vote. Huge turnout in 2018 and 2020 proves it. And the public isn’t buying the narrative: In a new poll, three-quarters of respondents say voting laws in their states are “about right.”
The mail-ballot issue, which was sadly predictable, is real and must be addressed. The Associated Press reported that nearly 23,000 such ballots were rejected, with most probably stemming from new requirements to list certain ID numbers. That’s much higher than usual, but some of those were likely voters who also went to the polls in person.
In Tarrant County, 945 mail-in ballots were rejected, out of more than 11,000 cast. That’s unacceptable — in 2018, the number was just 83. Of the 945, we know that 117 cast an in-person ballot. Others surely were able to get their votes corrected in time.
None of this is to be cavalier about a voter losing his or her voice. Everyone who wants to vote and is legally eligible to do so should be able to, preferably with minimum inconvenience. Every legal vote should count.
But to call these changes systematic oppression was always an overreach, outlandish rhetoric that undermines confidence in the system every bit as much as constant accusations of rampant fraud. (And no, those aren’t true, either.)
WHAT HAPPENS IN NOVEMBER?
Some argue that the problems will be much worse in November’s general election, when turnout will be much higher. That may happen, but we have nearly eight months to improve communication about the system. And there will be elections between then and now for more voters to get their identification problems addressed.
Any change to election procedures takes some time to take hold. There will be fewer problems going forward as more voters go through the process.
The new law was largely unnecessary, designed to prevent fraud that, again, largely doesn’t exist. Many Republicans have convinced themselves that hordes of Democrats somehow manage to vote illegally, when it’s just not the case.
Both sides use the issue to rile their bases — one crying massive fraud, the other claiming systematic suppression.
But neither ever manages to trot out the evidence for either.
Editor’s note: A version of this column originally appeared in our conservative opinion newsletter, Right Turns. It’s delivered every Saturday with a fresh take on the news and a roundup of our best center-right opinion content. Sign up here.
