Travis County joined a federal lawsuit last month aiming to prevent President Donald Trump’s March executive order from changing ballot-by-mail voting rules. The lawsuit claims the new rules are unlawful and would disenfranchise eligible voters.
The executive order would require the United States Postal Service to maintain lists of eligible voters. All mail-in ballots will also need to be placed in envelopes with intelligent barcodes for tracking — which could potentially allow the U.S.P.S. to reject certain voters, according to Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado. Limon-Mercado is currently running for re-election in November and won the Democratic primary for the Travis County Clerk position in March.
According to the executive order fact sheet, the new mail-in and absentee ballot procedures are to reduce “the risk of fraud” and protect “the integrity of Federal elections.”
“President Trump is taking decisive action to prevent non-citizens from voting in Federal elections and to protect the security of mail-in and absentee ballots,” the executive order fact sheet states.
Limon-Mercado said the claim that there is fraud in the election systems is misinformation and “a solution in search of a problem.” Limon-Mercado said she is waiting on a decision soon from the Supreme Court about the legality of the new rules.
The first wave of mail-in ballots is expected to roll out before the end of the month, and Limon-Mercado said if the new rules are approved, election officials will have to utilize a system that has not been developed or tested before.
Limon-Mercado said she urges everyone who can vote in person to do so, but if someone who is eligible to vote by mail has no other choice, they should do it as soon as possible.
“We may have to operationalize a whole new set of rules (that) neither the U.S.P.S. or county election officials or the state have ever navigated before,” she said.