Voter Confidentiality

the determination.57 If the rejection occurs in the presence of the applicant, the registrar can inform the applicant of the reason orally, and give them the opportunity to correct and re-apply. If the applicant re-applies, they must submit the new application before the 10th day after the rejection notice is delivered.

Upon approval, the voter will receive a unique voter registration number (known as VUID) assigned by the Secretary of State and a registration certificate from their county voter registrar.58

In general, there is certain personal identification information provided on registration applications that is confidential for all voters, including partial social security numbers, driver’s license or state-issued ID numbers, and telephone numbers.

Applicants in any of the following categories are eligible to have their address omitted59 from the Official List of Registered Voters 60;

• Federal judges, including a federal bankruptcy judge;

• Marshals of the United States Marshals Service;

• United States Attorneys,

• State judges and any family member61 of the judge or official; or

• Peace officers, including Special Investigators and Prosecutors.

There is also an Alternate Address program that allows these same qualified individuals to use the address of their work place if they choose.62 This does, however, change the precinct of where they are eligible to vote from their precinct of residence.

In addition, the Attorney General’s office has an address confidentiality program that provides a substitute post office box address for victims of family violence, sexual

57 Tex. Elec. Code § 13.073. 58 Tex. Elec. Code § 13.141. 59 Tex. Elec. Code § 13.0021. 60 Tex. Transportation Code § 521.121. 61 Family member as defined under § 31.006 of the Finance Code. 62 Address Confidentiality, sos.texas.gov, (Nov. 2021) https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/address-confidentiality.shtml.