Abbott signs bill to prohibit registering to vote using P.O. Box: ‘We must restore confidence’

Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed Senate Bill 1111 (SB 1111) into law that will prohibit registering to vote by using a P.O. Box instead of a personal address.

SB 1111, which was signed by Abbott on June 16, also applied to churches and nonprofits that allow the homeless to use P.O. boxes to register to vote, as they would no longer be allowed to do this, KVUE reported. 

“A person may not establish a residence at any place the person has not inhabited. A person may not designate a previous residence as a home and fixed place of habitation unless the person inhabits the place at the time of designation and intends to remain,” SB 1111 language states. 

According to Houston Public Media, a voter would also be required to submit documentation as to the proof of their residence at the address listed for their voter registration. Submission of said documentation would also be prompted by a confirmation request from the voter registrar as well. 

“The November 2020 election demonstrated the lack of transparency and lack of integrity within the election process. The integrity of the voter roll is paramount to the entire electoral process and we must restore confidence in the voter roll for future elections for all Texans,” Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), author of multiple election integrity bills said, as reported by The Center Square.

Another study done by the Honest Elections Project states that as of December 2019, more than 200 counties throughout the nation had more registered voters than eligible to vote citizens.

According to the Voting Rights Project, absentee ballots and voter registration has the highest rate of voter fraud than any other category. The Pew Center on the States reports that approximately 24 million voter registrations, or one out of every eight voter registrations, are inaccurate or invalid in some way. 

According to the House Rules Committee, a poll taken in 2018 concluded that 77% of Americans support the maintenance of voter rolls.

A poll done by the Honest Elections Project also found that 64% of voters, including black (51%) and Hispanic (66%) voters, as well as urban (59%) and Independent (61%) voters, support increasing voting safeguards that help prevent fraud instead of decreasing safeguards. 

Despite many polls and studies that show Americans are in favor of voting bills and protections to help eliminate voter fraud, a current bill in the U.S. Senate, S.1, if passed, would end up hindering states from removing false and duplicate voter registration information. 

While it is unsure the future of current bills being debated in Congress, for the moment, Texas will continue to put in place bills that work toward preventing voter fraud.