Texas lawmakers heard today that there are at least 4,100 people in the Houston area alone that are registered at an address that is not their home.
Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart told the House Elections Committee this morning that many of those people are registered at addresses at places like Mail Boxes Etc. or UPS. The problem is, he says, that these voters then may be casting a ballot in the wrong district.
Stanart said that state law gives voters too much latitude with their registration address – which he argued could lead to abuse and fraud.
“A number of people actually saying ‘I’m going to register at this UPS location’ and if a significant number of people actually did something like this, you could actually turn a state rep’s election," Stanart said.
Lawmakers also heard about possible problems with mobile voting locations. Stanart told the committee that, right now, there are no guidelines that determine the locations of mobile voting or to make sure that certain populations aren’t getting an extra advantage.
“And I hate to pick on Travis County but I know they pick nursing homes to go to and they don’t have the resources to go to every nursing home," Stanart says.
For the November elections, all Travis County residents will be able to vote at any polling location in the county—not just during early voting but also on Election Day.
