AUSTIN, Texas – Texans voted in high numbers for the July 14 primary runoff election. While in-person voting generally ran smoothly throughout the state, some people voting by mail say they faced a lot of hurdles. One Texas woman feared having to violate public health recommendations in order to vote in Tuesday’s election, and she said it took a lot of effort to get an absentee ballot.
Linda Harrison spoke to Spectrum News from quarantine in Caldwell County. She has been sick with the coronavirus for almost three weeks and was dealing with fatigue.
“I’ve just been really sick with the coughing, sore throat, and the body aches,” Harrison said.
The 62-year-old pediatric nurse was determined, though, to vote in the primary runoff election. The problem, however, was that Harrison learned she contracted the virus the day mail-in ballot applications were due to Travis County.
“If I had applied for a ballot before July the 2nd I wouldn't have had to say what was going on,” she said.
That's because after the vote-by-mail deadline, elections officials can only accept emergency absentee ballots in person with a certified doctor’s note under the Texas Election Code that says a voter has a sickness or physical condition preventing that person from appearing at a polling place.
Harrison said her regular doctor was out, so she and her husband Vernon Webb, who also tested positive for the virus, enlisted the help of attorneys at the Texas Civil Rights Project and sued the county in hopes of getting a ballot without a physician’s note.
“I can't just show my results off of LabCorp that show I have COVID. Why that isn't enough? I’m a grown adult, 62 years old, and I had to get permission slip from my doctor in order to vote,” Harrison said.
The court rejected their request, but Harrison ended up getting that certification at the last minute. A Texas Civil Rights Project intern picked up Harrison’s ballot for her and then they met at a parking lot near a Sonic restaurant in South Austin so Harrison could fill it out at a safe distance. Then the intern drove it back to the clerk’s office minutes before the 7 p.m. deadline.
In order to be eligible for absentee ballots in Texas, voters must be 65 and older, be out of the county, or cite a disability or illness, but they do not have to show proof. Local elections officials also do not have the responsibility to investigate such applications.
“Texas is one of the only states that even requires an excuse to get a mail-in ballot,” Texas Civil Rights Project press manager Ivy Le said.
The Texas Civil Rights Project argues the state’s requirements put an undue burden on voters like Harrison. Advocates there have created a petition asking for change, as the November election quickly approaches.
“We want vote-by-mail to work. There are others states where we have seen that it can work and it can be a very important pillar of safe elections,” Le said.
For voting rights advocates that is regardless of the pandemic. Even from isolation, Harrison believes the pandemic has fueled people’s willingness to vote.
“For the first time in all the years I've been voting I see more interest in the right to vote. If they wish to vote, they should be allowed to vote and we should make it easy enough,” Harrison said.