As Texans prepare to head to the polls Tuesday in the first primary of the 2022 election cycle, thousands of mail-in ballots have been rejected due to new Republican-enacted voter restrictions. This is Isabel Longoria, elections administrator in Harris County, where 40% of mail-in ballot applications were flagged for rejection.

Isabel Longoria: “The new requirement for mail ballots under the new election laws — again, first election it’s in place — says you must include either your Social Security number or driver’s license number on the application and mail ballot itself for it to be counted. Not only that, but whatever number you put on the ballot has to match up with what we have in your system. … What we are finding is people don’t put their number. They say, ’I’m either worried because of identity theft, or I don’t like including my personal information,’ or 'I didn't see the very small box in fine print under the envelope as I was filling out all other portions.’ So the vast majority are people who just don’t fill out that information for some reason.”

Two progressive candidates — former labor organizer Greg Casar and immigrant human rights lawyer Jessica Cisneros — are hoping to win congressional seats. They have both been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.