The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Election Protection Project’s Secure and Free Elections (SAFE) agenda aims to protect every citizen’s basic right to vote from intentional fraud and inefficient bureaucracy. The policies below would ensure that voters understand their rights and the rules of voting, notably that they should be free to choose whom they vote for, and that the voting system should preserve the integrity of each ballot.
Recommendations:
- Require all voters for all offices to be United States citizens by requiring proof of citizenship at voter registration and aligning registration identification requirements with accepted identification for voting in person, with the provision a voter can submit a reasonable impediment declaration. Such standards should also apply to vote by mail or applications for ballot by mail.
- Remove all nonvoters from voter-registration lists after a set number of missed cycles, following a given notification period. This can be accomplished by address and status verification conducted by counties or the Secretary of State to ensure accurate and up-to-date rolls.
- Improve Texas’s vote-by-mail system by conducting all operations within the office of the Texas Secretary of State, including all applications, counting, and storage for ballots by mail. Strengthen qualifications, such as implementing a defined disability-verification process.
- Strengthen coordination between the Texas Secretary of State’s elections division and Texas counties through measures such as standardized voter-registration information and communication.
- Increase criminal penalties for persons committing voter-assistance fraud, and prohibit certain persons from soliciting, intimidating, or coercing voters by providing “voter assistance.”