The Texas secretary of state is in dire straits as it is compelled to limit the voter registration forms. The department has imposed a limit of 2,000 forms per request. The shortage of forms has impacted the bodies organizing voting systems for the public. The supply of paper is costly, and it leaves officials with the dilemma of conducting voting with limited resources. Texas Tribune reports that the voting groups are in deep trouble as the quantity of paper is scarce and very little compared to other times.
New Registration Process Gets Haywire
The voting groups say that the shortage of paper is usual and affects the registration of newly naturalized citizens. Grace Chimene, the president of the League of Women Voters of Texas, expressed deep concern about the paper shortage and said that the groups often ask for an abundant supply of paper at every ceremony. Texas Tribune reports that around 30,000 new registrations are done each year in Houston. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the ceremonies; the groups have shifted between in-person and remote practices.
Cost Increase And Supply Chain Inefficiency Are The Prime Factors
The individuals are doing new registrations due to a change in Texas’ voter registration law under Senate Bill 1; a huge controversy surrounds this change. Texas Tribune quoted Sam Taylor, assistant secretary of state for communications, who said, “We are limited in what we can supply this year, because of the paper shortage and the cost constraints due to the price of paper and the supply of paper. The voter registration application changed this year for one reason: It’s because the legislature decided to increase the penalty for illegal voter registration from class B misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor.”
“While we have made clear to officials and groups that they should not be distributing the old version of the Voter Registration form, county voter registrars may accept completed voter registration applications on the old form, so long as the application is otherwise valid. In other words, using last year’s form in and of itself is not fatal to the voter’s registration application. We are treating all organizations that request these the same. We are trying to fulfill these requests as fast we can. But the fact is we don’t have the supply to honor every single request for free applications,” he added.
