Landing on the voter suspense list doesn’t mean your registration is suspended.
But it is frustrating. I should know, I’m one of approximately 1.8 million Texans who had their status flagged ahead of the midterm elections this year.
Spoiler alert: I was still able to vote. If you find yourself on the list, you can too.
Don’t panic
“There are still options for you to cast a ballot in the election. Your registration still counts,” said Alicia Pierce, spokesperson for the office of the Texas Secretary of State.
The suspense list is a response to the National Voter Registration Act. Among other provisions, it requires states to have a registration maintenance program that is uniform and nondiscriminatory. The law also requires states to reach out to voters before they can be removed from the voting rolls based on a change of address.
You land on this list when a registrar has reason to believe your address has changed. Most often, this happens when a jury summons or a voter registration certificate is marked undeliverable and returned to their office.
If you haven’t actually moved, the process is simple. You can sign a Statement of Residence at your polling place and vote.
“If they have moved, then they may need to take a couple of steps to make sure that they are doing what they need to do to be able to cast a ballot,” Pierce said.
The steps depend on whether you moved within the county or to a new one. The Secretary of State shares more specifics online, and Pierce recommends reaching out to your county registrar if you have additional questions.
Provisional ballots
If there’s an issue with your registration, you can ask for a provisional ballot.
This essentially places a hold on your vote. You’ll be able to make your selections, but your ballot will be kept separate from other ballots. Later, election judges will go through the provisional ballots to determine whether they are eligible to be tallied.
After the election, they are required to notify you about whether your vote was counted and why.
Voter hotline
If you’ve checked out the Secretary of State’s resources or called your county registrar but still have questions, you can call 866-our-vote.
It’s a helpline run by Election Protection, a national nonpartisan coalition focused on voting rights. For the phone call-averse, you can also reach Election Protection by text, Facebook or WhatsApp messages.
Why I got flagged
When my husband and I bought a 98-year-old home over the summer, it came with a long to-do list. But, in July, before we dug into any major projects, I updated my driver’s license and voter registration.
As a reporter, I was well aware of the Oct. 5 registration deadline. So, in September, I double checked online to make sure my updates were noted. My old address was still listed. So, I updated it again.
At the time, I didn’t know that an issue with the Department of Public Safety’s software created a backlog of 500,000 registration records dating back to October of last year.
I’m not sure if that’s why my changes didn’t go through the first time, but it’s a separate issue from the suspense list.
“Texas voter registrars did receive some information that had initially been delayed but thankfully they did a great job of addressing those voter registrations,” said Alicia Pierce, a spokesperson for the office of the Texas Secretary of State. “They were able to take care of them ahead of early voting in this election cycle.”
The next time I checked my registration online, everything was current.
I thought I was all set. Then, just as early voting started, I got a letter from the county elections office that said I was on the suspense list. There was an issue with my address.
The certificate was marked undeliverable and returned to the county elections office.
This triggered my addition to the suspense list.
Fortunately, I was able to prove that my address was correct and cast a ballot. I got my “I voted” sticker and I hope you do too.
Got a tip? Email Marcheta Fornoff at mfornoff@kera.org.
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