Texas Democratic Party Vote by Mail program

[Gothmog]

I just attended a training session held by the Fort Bend and Galveston county Democratic parties that included training on the new Texas Democratic Party vote by mail program. The GOP has been doing a vote by mail program for years and this program is designed to even the playing field and to help older voters with voter id issues.

You can check the program out here http://vbm.txdemocrats.org/

If you are a first time voter who did not provide either drivers license or social security number on your voter registration application, then you still need to vote in person or provide the id required to vote in person before you can vote by mail. http://www.longdistancevoter.org/texas#.UtHBeWeA0Y0 This is one reason why it is critical that voter registrars make sure that they have the last four digits of each voter's social security on the voter registration application.

If you are not a first time voter or if you provided your social security number on your voter registration application, then you can vote by mail without a voter id if you are: (i) over 65, (ii) disabled, (iii) out of the county or (iv) in jail. If the voter is over 65 or disabled then the voter can request vote by mail ballots only once for the primary, the primary runoff and all general elections during that year.

The disability criterion is subjective to the voter and is not subject to second guessing. At the training, it was stated that the Travis County Election Office stated that if one does not have an id and it would be a "pain in the ass" to get an id, then that voter could consider this "pain in the ass" as a sufficient disability to vote by mail. Under the law, no one is suppose to be able to challenge a voter's determination as to that voter's disability.

If you apply for an application yourself, the party will be able to track to make sure that the ballot was issued and check to see you have received the ballot.

You can generate an application to vote by mail for for other people once you are signed off on by the party (any precinct chair will eventually have this authority). The concept is that party leaders can go door to door for all voters in that precinct who are over 65 with copies of pre-printed applications that can be signed and sent to the applicable election office.

This system is going live next week.

[Thinkingabout]

1. This is great news, I am active in senior groups, this is good information which will help

Those who may not get around as well as they used to and allows them to participate.

Another note, the guy who registered with his warehouse address and implied he was black is being challenged in court. I understand two of his children also registered at the same address in order to vote for him. See, there is voter fraud, it is being done by Republicans.

[Gothmog]

2. In Texas, the only voter fraud that is noticed is any "fraud" committed by Democrats

In my county, we have an idiot in the 2012 cycle who bragged at a GOP meeting voting twice in Texas and Pennsylvania. We documented this voter fraud and no one in Texas cared to take action.

[Thinkingabout]

3. Gotcha, the only voter fraud I have read about in several years has been by Republicans so

There will not be a lot in the news. The one in Houston could have gotten away with his crime except he had to brag he had completed his task. See, it proves you don't have to be smart to be a Republican.

[Gothmog]

4. Juanita Jean has a good write up on this program

http://www.juanitajean.com/2014/01/17/okay-we-are-up-and-running-big-time/ I urge all Texas Democrats to check it out.

[DhhD]

5. A Texas Driver's License has a code for any disabling conditions on it, besides the vision lens

correction code. This lets an office holder or person making decisions by law, know that accommodations may be necessary. Don't know if a photo ID from the DPS/State or other IDs have this information.

[Gothmog]

6. The determination as to whether a voter is disabled is made by the voter

I have looked at some online examples of Election Identification Certificates and there does not appear to be a place for coding as to anything. These ids have a legend saying that they may only be used for voting purposes



The coding on a driver's license does not control. A voter may determine that they are disabled for a particular election and request a ballot by mail without regard to the coding on their drivers' license.

If a voter has a disability rating of 50% or greater from the Social Security or Veteran's Administration, that voter can have an exemption entered on their voting registration card and records that they are exempt from the voter id requirement but that determination is entirely separate and distinct from the disability determination made by a voter in order to vote by mail