Birth certificate for election identification definition

A Birth Certificate for Election Identification is a certified copy of a birth certificate that is issued for the sole purpose of obtaining an Election Identification Certificate, or EIC.

This is a type of Texas birth certificate copy, that cannot be obtained in any other US state. The birth record for EIC is issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and bears the message "For Election Identification Purposes Only". The Texan administration is limiting the number of birth certificates for election identification purposes to one per citizen.

This type of US birth certificate can only be obtained by the certificate bearer in person. This means that only the person who needs to obtain an EIC can request their own Election Identification Birth Certificate.

In 2013, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) adopted a rule amendment that waives the fees required to obtain a certified copy of a birth record specifically destined to request an Election Identification Certificate (EIC), which may be obtained free of charge at any Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Driver License office.

To qualify for the Birth Certificate for Election Identification fee waiver, the Texan citizen must visit the Vital Statistics Unit (VSU), a local registrar, or a county clerk in Texas (see full list of Texas vital records offices). No family member or otherwise qualified individual will be able to get an EIC birth certificate subject to the waiver of fees on behalf of another Texas citizen.

The fee waiver is exclusively available for the issuance of an EIC certified birth record. The waiver is not applicable to any other type of Texas birth certificate.