House Bill 1151<\/a>, which allowed mail-in ballots to be counted if they were received before 5 p.m. on the day after election day. Previously, all mail-in ballots had to be received by the time the polls closed at 7 p.m. the night prior.<\/p>\n\u201cOur problem at the time was that many post offices throughout Texas were failing to deliver ballots on time and we would receive them en masse the next day, disenfranchising voters who thought they had voted on time,\u201d Schofield told Nexstar in a phone call on Monday. \u201cWe think (22 extra hours is) about right. It\u2019s not like the post office was going to hold them all week or for a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
HB 1151 passed unanimously back then.<\/p>\n
A push for repeal<\/p>\n
While the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling leaves Texas\u2019 current law untouched, it doesn\u2019t mean the policy is immune from future challenges in Austin<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all been through elections and people always complaining about they found extra ballots or how did the mail work, they were digging stuff underneath. You can say if it\u2019s true or not. This is a way to help rein that in,\u201d State Rep. Dennis Paul, R-Houston, said during a House floor session in 2025.<\/p>\n
He authored House Bill 1091, which would\u2019ve reinstated the election day mail-in deadline. The bill never came to a vote, as State Rep. John Bucy III, D-Austin, successfully called a point-of-order claiming the bill\u2019s analysis was substantially and materially misleading. However, Bucy expects lawmakers to revisit the issue in 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I killed his bill last session, he implied that he\u2019d be bringing it back next session,\u201d Bucy said. If he does, it will be on the other side of the chamber as Paul is running to replace State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston. \u201cThe Senate continues to file anti-voter legislation on the regular, even though Greg Abbott\u2019s hand-picked secretary of states continue to reassure us and testify under oath about how safe and secure Texas elections are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schofield didn\u2019t give a direct answer when asked if he\u2019d support Paul\u2019s bill if it came back up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is that we have one set of rules that is consistent for everybody and that your ballot will count if you follow them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we want to do it by giving an extra day, that\u2019s fine. If we don\u2019t think the post office is having problems delivering them anymore and we want them on time, I certainly support that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The one issue he did have a strong stance on \u2014 legally separating the state and federal elections in Texas so federal election law can never outweigh Texas election law.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Supreme Court case highlights the fact that Texas voting can be held hostage to the whims of Congress and whatever bills they pass,\u201d he said. \u201cI have filed a bill the last three sections that would bifurcate our elections from the federal elections. And under the US Constitution, if we do that\u2026 the Congress cannot make rules that curtail Texas elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Limited impact<\/p>\n
Voter by mail in Texas is incredibly rare compared to other states. In order to apply for a ballot, a Texan must meet one of the following criteria:<\/p>\n
Expected to give birth within three weeks of the election;<\/p>\n
Out of the county on election day and during all early voting days;<\/p>\n
In jail but still eligible to vote<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very narrowly used,\u201d Nissenbaum said. \u201cIn the 2024 election, only 4% of voters in Texas cast their ballots by absentee.\u201d<\/p>\n
The small percentage of voters who do cast a ballot that way, will still have some breathing room in 2026, but Schofield says they should still take precaution.<\/p>\n
\u201cA new post office memo has told us that they can\u2019t guarantee that they will postmark a ballot or any other mail the day it\u2019s received,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a result, I would caution any voter who votes by mail to make sure they get their ballot in the mail in plenty of time to make sure it\u2019s counted. If you\u2019re a voter in Texas and you cast your vote by mail, we want it to count.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN (Nexstar) \u2014 The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state of Mississippi on Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[126480,88158,126479,126477,145,6513,126478,126481,39947,27,29,28,39420],"class_list":["post-355523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-amy-comey-barrett","tag-chief-justice-john-roberts","tag-dennis-paul","tag-dion-nissenbaum","tag-donald-trump","tag-election-day","tag-mike-schofield","tag-nexstar","tag-president-george-w-bush","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-united-states-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}