Texas mail ballot rejections soar under new restrictions

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The number of rejected mail ballots in Texas soared to nearly 13% across most counties in the nation's first election of 2022. That's according to county-by-county figures obtained by The Associated Press. Final figures from Texas' primary election earlier this month show nearly 23,000 mail ballots in all were discarded and not counted. Most were rejected for failing to comply with new ID requirements that took effect this year. The usual rate for mail ballot rejections is around 1%. The rejection rate was 15.1% in counties that lean Democratic and 9.1% in those that lean Republican.