Texas Civil Rights Workers 1,000-Plus Voter Complaints

AUSTIN, TX -- Texas civil rights workers on Tuesday have received more than 1,000 reports about voting improprieties and challenges at various polling sites across the state, officials said.

The polarizing nature of the presidential race has tightened the vote in Texas, long a conservative-leaning state that last voted for a Democratic president in 1976. Add to the mix a modified Texas Voter ID law replacing a previous iteration ruled unconstitutional, and a recipe for voting issues emerges.

That's what has happened, officials of the Texas Election Protection coalition reported Tuesday. In the first five hours of Election Day voting, the coalition has received more than 1,000 calls and messages running the gamut of general election issues: Inaccurate voter ID information; long lines; machine malfunctions; voter registration questions; reports of voter intimidation.

At Harris County alone, the coalition's call center fielded more than 400 calls before 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, coalition officials said. Encompassing Houston, Harris County is among the hot spots to which U.S. Department of Justice officials are sending personnel to monitor the vote on Election Day.

The DOJ federal workers were dispatched to Harris, Dallas and Waller counties among other jurisdictions throughout the U.S., with an eye in Texas particularly focused on adherence to a more relaxed Texas Voter ID law ordered by a federal court this summer.

Among the reports the Texas Election Protection coalition have received on Election Day:

• Long lines at multiple polling locations throughout Harris County due to voter processing delays, including Fiesta Market on Kirby Drive and MacGregor Elementary School, Houston.

• Last-minute changes to polling locations in Harris County, creating voter confusion; poor signage alerting voters to changes in polling locations.
• In Fort Bend County, issues with inoperable voting machines creating long lines and voters being redirected to other polling locations at George Bush High School, Missouri City.
• In Dallas County, issues related to inoperable voting machines creating long lines and voters being redirected to other polling locations at Irma Rangel School, Dallas.
• Numerous reports throughout the state regarding Texas Voter ID law, reports of lack of voter declaration materials and judges' failure to provide voting option for those without photo ID at multiple locations.

In each of these instances, Election Protection alerted the appropriate election officials and provided a coordinated response to ensure ballots were cast and problems were remedied, coalition officials said.

“We’ve seen a number of issues this morning and been overwhelmed with calls, Takcus Nesbit, spokesperson with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said. "As voters reach out to us or as we hear about issues through our volunteer network, we’ll continue to work to clear up those issues as quickly as possible.”

Mimi Marziani, executive director with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said coalition members would work closely with local voting officials throughout Election Day in resolving issues. Once Election Day is over by Tuesday evening, the reports will be collected in assembling data to prevent such issues from occurring in future elections, Marziani said.

“In just a few hours, the Texas Election Protection Coalition volunteers have helped over one thousand Texas voters get the information they need to cast a ballot that counts," she said. "Whatever the question or concern, we will work with voters and election officials to remedy problems all day. Starting tomorrow, we will be analyzing the data collected to build a better election system in Texas for the future.”

During voting, the Election Protection coalition urges voters to call the toll-free English language hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE. Additionally, Spanish-speaking voters may seek bilingual assistance through the 888-VE-Y-VOTA hotline and Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali speakers can use the 888-API-VOTE number, officials said.