Voters getting incomplete ID instructions at polls

Hundreds of people wait in line to cast their ballot at the Fiesta Mart off Kirby Drive on Oct. 24, the first day of early voting. Hundreds of people wait in line to cast their ballot at the Fiesta Mart off Kirby Drive on Oct. 24, the first day of early voting. Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 44 Caption Close Voters getting incomplete ID instructions at polls 1 / 44 Back to Gallery

A day after election officials were reminded to tell voters they can still cast ballots if they don't have photo IDs, poll workers across Harris County were still giving incomplete instructions to voters waiting in line.

Earlier this year, federal judges earlier this year ordered Texas to offer citizens without government-issued photo IDs — about 600,000 people, many of them minorities — another route, which has been little utilized at polling places across Harris County. The order came after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in July found Texas' original voter ID law violated federal ballot-box protections for minorities.

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The state agreed to let these voters cast ballots after they sign declarations explaining the "reasonable impediment" to getting a photo ID such as lack of transportation, disability or work schedule. The "declaration" voters then must present a supporting document such as a birth certificate, bank statement or utility bill.

Few Harris County voters have taken advantage of the alternative route, according to election judges at locations visited across the county Tuesday. Officials at polling places in southeast

Ballot-access advocates worry potential "declaration" voters may be discouraged when they hear poll workers instruct voters waiting in line to pull out their photo IDs without mentioning the alternatives, as they were Tuesday at polling locations in Spring Branch, the Hobby Airport area and at Prairie View A&M University's Northwest campus, according to on-site reporting guided by tips from ProPublica's Electionland project.

That instruction may not violate the letter of the law, but county and state officials have said it is incomplete.

READ MORE: Democrats outnumber Republicans in Harris County early voting

The Harris County clerk's director of logistics and training, Judy Owens, sent a memo Monday clarifying the proper language. "We have received a number of complaints regarding the language that the greeters are using in the polling locations," Owens wrote to the election judges who oversee polling locations. "Please have your greeters state the following: 'Please have your identification ready for the qualifying table. If you have any questions about the necessary identification, please ask me.' "

Read more on the incomplete instructions and the alternative route to voting on HoustonChronicle.com.

The Houston Chronicle is participating in Electionland, a ProPublica project that will cover access to the ballot and problems that prevent people from exercising their right to vote during the 2016 election.

Sign up with us now - by texting ELECTIONLAND to 69866 - and we will check in on Election Day to find out how long it took you to vote and whether you had or saw any problems.

