After 15 years of running his Drive-Thru-Postal, Rick Wheeler knows most of his customers by name. So when voter registration cards came in bearing the names and P.O. Boxes of people he hasn't seen for years, Wheeler knew something was wrong.
"This guy has moved to California, his voter registration gets here," Wheeler said. "We get it for people who not only not have mailboxes here, some never had, some have moved away five
years ago."
The Drive-Thru-Postal has received 110 of voter registration cards this year, Wheeler said. Thirty-five cards have been addressed to people who no longer use his P.O. Boxes. That comes to a 30 percent error rate.
"We will keep making announcements that each time you move, you need to update your voter registration address," Travis County Tax Assessor Nelda Wells Spears said.
And if you don't, there's no way to ensure your card doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
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Voter cards
An election loophole leaves a gaping opportunity for voter fraud.
 
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"When there are so many cards being delivered to wrong addresses, it increases chances for voter fraud," Peggy Venable of Americans for Prosperity said.
That's because all you need to vote in Texas is the voter registration card. Election workers aren't required to verify if the name on the card matches the person voting.
"I could walk in 20 times and say 'This is who I am.' Nobody would ever know," Wheeler said.
It's a loophole a fraudulent voter could easily walk through, one that the Legislature needs to quickly close, according to advocates.
Senate Republicans tried to pass a bill in May that would have required voters to show a picture ID at the polls. But the move was blocked by Democrats, who said the bill would have been discriminatory toward minorities and the elderly.
If you've received someone else's voters registration card, you're asked to return it to the post office.
If you're a voter who needs to update your address, contact your county voter registrar office.
