Ahead of November election, Texas issues warning about noncitizens voting

(The Center Square) – Since the primary election runoff in late May and ahead of the November election, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office has been prioritizing cleaning up the voter rolls and issuing guidances to local jurisdictions about election law.

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 guidances to local authorities about following state and federal election law.

One guidance directs elections officials to implement measures to ensure registered voters’ privacy rights. It was issued after complaints were filed about ballot information being publicized reportedly for political purposes.

It directs counties to redact any information that could connect a voter’s personal information to their ballot choices. She also warned that anyone “who choose[s] to publicize ballot information could face legal action under state and federal law if the release of information is tied to voter intimidation, bribery or coercion.”

Another 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.

All registered Texas voters “have the right to challenge the eligibility of any registered voter in their county,” her office says. Any Texan can challenge a voter’s registration they believe isn’t a U.S. citizen by filing a sworn statement with the county registrar. Doing so results in a hearing and potential cancellation of the voter’s registration if proof of citizenship cannot be produced. Noncitizens identified as registered to vote must be reported to the offices of the Attorney General and Secretary of State within 72 hours.

Nelson again reminded all election officials that state and federal laws prohibit noncitizens from registering and voting in any Texas election. When registering to vote, Texans must attest to being a U.S. citizen. Providing false information on a voter registration form subjects applicants to criminal penalties.

Cleaning of the voter rolls stems from several bills signed into law by Abbott. In 2023, he signed HB 1243 into law, which increased the penalty for illegal voting, including voting by noncitizens, to a second-degree felony.

In 2021, Abbott signed SB 1, SB 1113, and HB 574 into law. SB 1 implemented several changes, including increasing the penalty for lying on a voter registration form to a state jail felony, criminalizing ballot harvesting, banning local jurisdictions from distributing unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and ballots as Harris County attempted to. The law also requires ID to be used and matched for mail-in ballots. It also requires the Secretary of State to conduct randomized audits of elections every two years and ongoing citizenship checks of Texas voter rolls.

Senate Bill 1113 directed the Secretary of State to withhold funds from counties whose administrators fail to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. House Bill 574 increased the penalty for those who knowingly count invalid votes or refuse to count valid votes to a second-degree felony. In 2017, Abbott signed SB 5 into law to increase the penalty for election workers who knowingly permit noncitizens and other ineligible persons to vote.

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.

“Those who are determined to be ineligible or who fail to respond within the allotted time are removed from the voter roll,” her office said.