Ahead of November election, Texas issues warning about noncitizens voting
Bethany Blankley | The Center Square | 8-26-24 | Condensed
On Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the result of a statewide effort: more than 1.1 million people were taken off the Texas voter rolls, including 6,500 noncitizens who were illegally registered to vote. Among them, documentation about 1,930 with a voting history was handed over to the Attorney General’s Office for a potential criminal investigation.
The announcement comes after Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson issued warnings and guidance to local authorities about following state and federal election laws.
A reminder sent to county registrars directs them to maintain accurate voter rolls and remove ineligible voters, including noncitizens, felons, and the deceased.
“Voting is a sacred right that must be preserved for citizens who qualify under our elections laws,” Nelson said. “My responsibility is to ensure free and fair elections and that only qualified voters participate.”
Her office updates the statewide voter registration database daily, but federal law prohibits large-scale updates from occurring 90 days ahead of a federal election.
After the May 28 primary runoff, Texas had until Aug. 7 to perform a sweeping voter roll update. Over the summer, aggressive measures were taken to ensure only eligible voters were on the rolls, her office said, saying it “continues to provide a multitude of data sets to counties in order to ensure accurate voter lists.”
As part of the SOS voter roll oversight process, records of potential non-citizens are sent to counties, and voter registrars are required by law to investigate and remove all ineligible voters. The SOS is also by law required to “withhold election funds from a county voter registrar for failure to approve, change, or cancel a voter’s registration in a timely manner,” according to a new law that went into effect in 2021.
Her office “monitors each voter registrar’s list maintenance activity on an ongoing basis for compliance with their voter registration cancellation duties,” Nelson said.
Nelson also reminded registrars that they have the right to initiate their own investigations, as do Texas voters.
Noncitizens identified as registered to vote must be reported to the offices of the Attorney General and Secretary of State within 72 hours.
Nelson’s office also regularly obtains data about noncitizens from the Department of Public Safety and receives information from Texas courts about noncitizens excused or disqualified from jury duty and compares this information to the voter registration database. Records are also sent to county voter registrars to investigate voter eligibility.
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