Vote Early to Catch Registration Goofs
Early voting runs through tomorrow. Photo by Filipa Rodrigues/KUT NewsIn 2011 lawmakers passed a law requiring the secretary of state to cross-check federal Social Security rolls when performing its regular deceased-voter checks. This check created several thousand “soft matches” — names on the federal document of people who’d died that were similar to names on Texas voting rolls.
Those soft matches were considered confirmed if the person didn’t respond to a letter telling the voter to prove they were still alive. A lawsuit eventually stopped the purge.
But Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade says the best way to make sure a mistake doesn’t keep you from voting is to vote early.
“The state and the local election officials are committed to making sure that every voter has an opportunity to vote,” Andrade said. “So if you vote early we have time to check on that. And I promise you that you will be reinstated if you are a registered voter and your name was removed in error. That commitment I make to you.”
The lawsuit settlement allows state and local officials to continue to investigate these soft matches, but now it’s up to county officials to confirm the status of a voter, not the voter themselves.
