The Texas State Senate on Wednesday approved Senate Bill 1509, by Sen. Brandon Creighton, a key elections bill that protects the integrity of mail-in ballots.
After passing the Senate 19-12, the bill now heads to the House.
The bill addresses the fact that mail-in ballots can be too easily exploited by ballot traffickers in Texas. SB 1509 improves mail-in ballot integrity by requiring voters to provide their driver’s license or state ID card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to apply for a mail-in ballot and when returning a mail-in ballot.
SB 1509, if signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, will go a long way to prevent ballot traffickers from easily exploiting the weaknesses in Texas’s election system. Mail-in ballot use has gone from 1.8% of ballots cast in 2010 to about 9% in 2020. This measure will provide a form of voter ID similar to what Texans have already been using for years when they vote in person.
For more on mail-in ballots, click here.