Voters who did not present photo identification at the polls during last week's election must do so at the Harris County Clerk's elections office by the end of the day Tuesday or their votes will not count.
It was the first statewide election since a law took effect requiring voters to show a driver's license or one of six other forms of photo ID at the ballot box.
"While the number of voters who need to cure the photo ID requirement is less than 100, we want to provide the opportunity for every voter's vote to count," said Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart in a news release.
Stanart, who oversees elections, said Department of Public Safety employees will be stationed at his office to help voters obtain the state's free election identification certificate, created to quell fears that the new law would prevent some people from voting. The office is on the fourth floor of the county administration building at 1001 Preston.
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"After getting your election identification certificate, you can go downstairs and present the photo ID to the voter registrar," Stanart said.
Won't change results
The number of affected ballots is not high enough in any district to overturn any close races, Stanart said, adding that at least two-thirds of them appear to have been cast by voters with valid state IDs.
While few Harris County voters had no ID to show, many whose IDs showed a different name than the one on their voter registration card - including Stanart himself - had to initial an affidavit verifying their identity. In Stanart's case, his voter registration card said "Stan," and his driver's license said "Stanley."
Harris County Election Clerk Cathy Courtney said verifying names and processing IDs took one to two extra minutes per voter, plus "extra time when there were problems, mismatches, complaints and resistance." This will be problematic in higher turnout elections, she said.
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'A big hassle'
"This small turn-out joint election was a BIG hassle," Courtney wrote in an e-mail. "Added time alone will pose problems in the larger election. MANY people complained and resisted."
Courtney said that out of the 300 voters in her Precinct, "at least 57 people had 'problems' with the rules," including two dozen people - mostly married and divorced women - with similar name variations.
"We offered them the green name change form and 'affidavit' to sign and informed them that they may be challenged every time they vote in Texas," Courtney said. "I bet regular poll workers are going to ignore name variations without signing affidavits all over Texas."
