Small changes in new voting rules for something as simple as an envelope. Sealing it can keep legitimate votes from counting. That's the takeaway from Newsy's investigation into what happened with a surge of rejected ballots in Texas. 

We found a redesigned ballot envelope, which Republicans in Texas said would prevent voter fraud, actually blocked legal votes, including one from Rev. Aroyal Ruth Princess-Love.

"I was shocked," she said. 

Princess-Love hadn't missed an election in decades. She even volunteers at the polls. 

"I mean, it's just it's part of my breathing, voting is," she said. "It's just part of my nature."

Princess-Love is among Texans who failed to comply with a new rule for voters to print their driver's license number, or last four digits of their social security number, on their ballot return envelope. 

Princess-Love told Newsy she just never saw the new instructions. 

The rate of rejected mail-in ballots in Texas jumped from less than 1% in 2020, to more than 12% during a March primary.

The state doesn't track how often the new ID rule on the envelope was the problem, but data we analyzed from Harris County — home to Houston — gives us a good idea. 

Harris County rejected about 7,000 ballots because of the new ID requirement. 

It may surprise you to hear the envelope tripped up Republicans at a higher rate than Democrats. 

Interviews with denied voters reveal the problem was with the design of the new ballot envelope. 

The ID requirement was buried in a heap of fine print. 

"I had not read that, and probably most of Houston hadn't read that," Republican voter Susan Gaertner said.

It appears the key instructions were printed in about 7-point font, even though national election standards recommend nothing smaller than 10-point font.

Also, the boxes for voters to fill out ID numbers had to be hidden for privacy, according to the secretary of state's office, which designed the envelope. 

They were in an unusual place beneath the envelope's flap. 

Whitney Quesenbery helps election offices build simple, clear ballots. 

"I think design had a huge impact here," she said.

She says the trouble in Texas is a warning to 18 other states that also passed restrictive voting rules after the 2020 election.

Hasty design changes, even to just an envelope, can disenfranchise voters of all political stripes. 

"This is not just an envelope," Quesenbery continued. "This is like — this is the pony express of Democracy."

Ohio has a similar requirement for mail-in voters to include an ID number. Yet that state's rejection rates are normal, low. The difference? Ohio's voter instructions have been the same for years.

They're big, written in plain language and important things are highlighted. 

"They've numbered the steps," Quesenbery said. "You must complete all five sections, so they've done things to create a pathway through it."

Ohio also has more space to work with, spreading out instructions on a second secrecy envelope. 

Quesenbery says Texas just didn't have enough time to thoughtfully re-tool its ballot. 

The new law took effect in December, with an election on March 1. 

"When we ask elections to move fast, it's easy to make mistakes," she said. "And it's easy to make mistakes, not because someone's trying to make mistakes, but because it's a complicated, human system." 

Poor design may have been especially significant in Texas, where mail-in voting is reserved for people with disabilities and seniors. 

"Lots of people have old age infirmities, which include your vision going," Quesenbery said.

Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria said officials had no choice but to cram the new instructions on a mailer with limited space. 

"This is very clearly an envelope, right? What makes it so difficult is you see all this text," she said. "It is mandated by law we include it on here, no matter how small the font is, to maintain uniformity of ballots across the state. Even the smallest tweaks need approval."

To make one word purple, Longoria said she had to get approval from the secretary of state and that took about a month.  

The Secretary of State's Office acknowledges the ballot envelope was difficult to navigate.  An updated envelope now includes red boxes around the ID requirement to draw voters' attention.  

But Harris County said it's impractical to switch envelopes now. 

They have stacks of the old envelope. Election offices had to buy supplies for 2022 months ago to handle another problem — paper shortage. 

"You have to actually plan six months to eight months in advance to even get these things," Longoria said.

They plan to re-evaluate design of the mail ballot envelopes ahead of the November election. Election offices in Texas call up voters who send an incomplete ballot if they have a phone number on file, giving them a chance to fix the problem so their vote can be accepted. 

Longoria is concerned rejection rates appear to be high again during May voting, especially among African American voters. 

"Texas is no longer a leader when it comes to voting innovation," Longoria said. "In fact, I think we're a warning sign to the rest of the country."

Longoria agreed to resign her post effective July, amid backlash over an unrelated issue involving the unofficial tally of ballots. 

Neither Princess-Love nor Gaertner fixed their ballots from March, both deciding to wait until the next election to try again with voting by mail.  

"We shouldn't give up on it," Princess-Love said.

Gaertner carefully filled out that tricky ballot envelope for the May election, a little less sure her vote would count.

Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here. 

Ohioans have four weeks before deciding who takes over Rob Portman's open senate seat. WLWT sits down with Ohio Senate candidates Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan for one-on-one interviews about the policies that matter to them, their political affiliations and what it's going to take to represent the state of Ohio. It's the race America is watching. And despite what you see in the commercials, some of what Ryan and Vance stand for might surprise you. For instance, the long-standing Democratic congressman, serving his 10th term, does not want the president's support in his senate race."We won't be asking him to come in. I just, I want to run this race on my own. This is my voice, my values, my beliefs. And you know, again, J.D. is bringing in Trump, he's bringing in Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump Jr., I'm gonna stand on my own two feet," Ryan said. While Vance may seem like he flip-flopped on the former president, Vance candidly admits he wasn't always on team Trump. "I was actually a critic of Donald trump in 2016. I did not think he was going to be a great president, I was very happy to be proven wrong. I think if you look at the prosperity that we had in this country, the rising wages, the fact that we were finally started to take on China, I think this policy has really worked for working people in our state," Vance said."I think a lot of people, they either love or hate him, right? And, the fact that you support him, for some people, it's enough to say, 'He's not going to get my vote,'" WLWT anchor Sheree Paollelo said."I guess the main thing that I'd say to them is, look, would you rather have a guy who's honest about making a mistake about changing their mind? Or would you rather have a guy like Tim Ryan, who supported a lot of really bad policies for this state, and then says in his tv commercials that he loves Donald Trump?" Vance said. In campaign ads, Ryan says he, too, supports former President Donald Trump on certain issues such as national defense, drug trafficking and trade deals with China. He said he's not just trying to win over conservatives. "I'm a Democrat. But I agree with Republicans. I'm doing what's in the best interest of Ohio and I've had the guts to take on my own party. I ran against Nancy Pelosi, I've gotten in fights with Bernie Sanders I take on Democrats when I think they're wrong. And I will agree with Republicans when I think they're right. I think that's the Ohio way. Rob Portman has done that with the bipartisan infrastructure bill with the chips act and other things. And that's why I think JD is off because he's on the extreme vein of politics today. And that's just not Ohio," Ryan said.The two glaring differences between these candidates is their experience. Do you want a veteran politician who's been in Washington for almost 20 years or a rookie to the political game? Vance said, sometimes, it's not just about experience."Given what's going on in Washington, D.C, not a whole lot of bipartisanship, not a whole lot of legislating going on in Washington, not just the last few years, the last 20 years.10 I think being a creature of Washington, D.C, spending 20 years in that place, as Tim Ryan has done, not being able to get anything done. That's not the experience we need," Vance said. Some voters say what elections need to do is ditch the negativity. That's what we've seen in Vance and Ryan's ads. But both insist if voters elect them, they'll reach across the aisle to create compromise instead of contempt. "Any team, the Bengals didn't get to the Super Bowl last year, fighting with each other. You know, you can have your arguments. I tell people all the time, 'We don't have to agree on everything.' Like, I love my wife head over heels. If we have 10 conversations in one day and we agree on seven, we crack a bottle of wine and like celebrate our marriage on that day. You don't have to agree with everybody on everything. Let's move forward together as Americans, not Democrats and Republicans," Ryan said. "There are things that you can do to work across the aisle to get things done. And look, I'm not opposed to giving something up, right? I'm fine with a good piece of legislation. I don't need everything to be perfect. I just want to make things better for the state. And at the end of the day, crime is too high, the border's in crisis. We have a terrible price problem and inflation problem. We need to do something, and we need to make people's lives better," Vance said. Both men think they're the guy to do that.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Helping veterans with toxic lung conditions, creating more computer chips to cut through supply chain issues and passing long-sought climate change and voting legislation all remain part of President Joe Biden's agenda this week.

However, it's not the issues that may be the president's biggest obstacle going forward: It may be time and the hotly-contested midterm election later this year.

PUSH BY PRESIDENT

The president attempted to hit the reset button last week during his press conference at the White House.

"A job not yet finished," Biden said.

Modest election changes are possible. New COVID-19 relief spending is also still on the table. Funding for the environment and pre-K education programs also remain negotiable.

Biden hinted at enacting some of his agenda through executive orders if Congress doesn't act.

TIME CONCERNS

Biden may only be done with his first year in office, but there is a growing sense in Washington that he doesn't have all the time in the world to get his ambitions accomplished.

It's an election year, and polls suggest Democrats may lose control of at least one chamber of Congress.

"I don't believe the polls," Biden said last Wednesday.

While the president may not believe the polling, he can't dismiss that at least 28 Democrats in the House are retiring.

While some are doing so to run for a different office, it is a number that's higher than usual and a sign Democrats may have some tough political fights this year.

REDISTRICTING BATTLES

It's not just retirements by well-known members of Congress impacting the president. Democrats are facing difficult redistricting fights too.

What is redistricting? It is the once-in-a-decade process of redrawing congressional maps following the U.S. Census to account for population changes. The process could mean millions across the country will be voting for new representatives this year.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing his party to draw maps that favor the GOP more than what had already been proposed.

In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a redistricting map that heavily favors Republicans. However, the state legislature overruled him.

In Tennessee, Republicans are advancing plans to make it easier to win near Nashville. The same is true in Kansas, where the GOP hopes to fair better in races near Kansas City.

All of that puts pressure on Biden to get something done soon. However, getting something done in a divided Washington isn't easy.