AUSTIN, Texas — Texans could be on a “suspense list” if they fail to vote in two consecutive federal elections under a controversial bill a Senate panel approved Thursday.
Voter registrars would have to check whether Texans had moved if they skipped casting ballots in that time, according to the proposal.
Currently, registrars don’t place someone on such a list, which can lead to registration being canceled, unless a voter registration certificate is returned in the mail. County officials mail the postcard-like document in January of odd-numbered years.
Under Brenham GOP Sen. Lois Kolkhorst’s Senate Bill 260, the address-verification process instead would be triggered by a voter’s inactivity.
“This gives the registrar another tool to be able to clean up those voter rolls, which I will just say, gives<cq> a lack of confidence,” Kolkhorst told the Senate State Affairs Committee.
The panel sent the bill to the full Senate, 8-2.
Elections haven’t yet become a dominant topic this year, as they were in 2021.
This session, Republicans have filed bills that would allow the state to call new elections if 2% or more of polling locations lack paper ballots and remove county election administrators if they have a “recurring pattern of problems,” such as erroneous vote tabulation or delay in reporting results.
Democrats have countered by trying to expand access, such as by letting people register to vote online, providing greater access for disabled voters and expanding countywide centers.
The Senate State Affairs panel heard testimony on a raft of election bills, most of them GOP-sponsored. Among other things, they would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and create state-selected election marshals who would be given authority to respond to complaints and issue orders to local election officials as they carry out an election. With Republicans controlling eight of the committee’s 11 seats, the GOP-written bills have the best chance of advancing.
Kolkhorst said residents of Fort Bend County who had concerns about inaccurate voter rolls inspired her to file the legislation that would trigger a suspense list. She also cited research by the conservative group Judicial Watch.
Under current law, voters can stay on the rolls indefinitely, even if they don’t participate in elections. If a registrar is told a voter has moved, or the registration postcard is returned, the registrar must send a letter requesting confirmation of current address. That letter is forwardable, meaning it should be delivered by U.S. mail to a person’s forwarding address.
If no response is received within 30 days, the voter is placed on the suspense list. Over the course of two federal elections – or four years – if no confirmation is received of the voter’s new address, then registration is canceled.
Kolkhorst’s bill would flip the process from one reliant on mail delivery to one dependent on activity – a voter’s participation.
Republican Sen. Angela Paxton, a supporter of the bill, said none of the four children she and her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton, have still live at their home in Collin County.
“Our son graduated from college in 2015 and moved to another state,” Paxton said. “He hasn’t lived at home since 2015. And every year, I still get at our home a voter registration card – in McKinney. … So would this address a situation like this?”
Kolkhorst replied, “Yes, yes. He would be removed from those voter rolls.”
She spoke of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled 5-4 that states may kick people off the rolls if they skip a few elections and fail to respond to a notice from election officials.
“I’m glad to hear we’re mirroring a constitutional statute at the Supreme Court, thank you,” said
Houston GOP Sen. Paul Bettencourt, another supporter of Kolkhorst’s bill.
However, several election judges and voluntary deputy registrars protested that the bill would knock people off the rolls simply for not voting.
“After 26 months, if someone doesn’t vote, they will be basically mailed something – which people do not check their mail,” Harris County election judge Elizabeth Garrett said. “I really worry that people are going to get kicked off the voter rolls just for the act of not voting.”
