Texas Governor Removes 1 Million Ineligible Voters From Rolls
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that since 2021, the state has removed over 1.1 million ineligible voters from its rolls, including 6,500 individuals identified as potential noncitizens. Abbott emphasized the state’s commitment to preventing illegal voting and safeguarding election integrity following the enactment of Senate Bill 1, which imposes strict regulations on voter registration and mail-in voting. The removals included more than 457,000 deceased individuals, over 6,000 people with felony convictions, and noncitizens with past voting history. The Secretary of State’s office is now forwarding these records to the attorney general for investigation. Additionally, House Bill 1243, signed last year, categorizes illegal voting as a second-degree felony. Abbott noted that state authorities are legally mandated to monitor and maintain the integrity of voter rolls, referring cases of potential illegal voting for further legal action.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, announced Monday that the state has removed more than 1.1 million ineligible voters, including 6,500 potential noncitizens, from its rolls since 2021.
“Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated,” Abbott said in a press release. “We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”
Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 in 2021. The election integrity measure made it a felony to lie while registering to vote, banned “vote harvesting” and unsolicited distribution of mail-in ballots, and required officials to reject mail-in ballots with errors.
Since then, the state has removed from its voter rolls more than 457,000 dead people, more than 6,000 people with felony convictions, and 6,500 potential noncitizens — 1,930 of whom had a voting history.
“The secretary of state’s office is in the process of sending all 1,930 records to the attorney general’s office for investigation and potential legal action,” reads the release.
Legal noncitizens could have gotten a license from the Texas Department of Public Safety and since become a naturalized citizen, according to the secretary of state’s office. Officials would send these individuals notices asking them for proof of citizenship, and they are only removed if they fail to respond.
This is what happened with the 6,500 potential noncitizens registered to vote, according to the secretary of state’s office. Due to the possibility that this number could include noncitizens who have since been naturalized, the state is referring the registrations to the attorney general for investigation, but not necessarily prosecution.
Abbott signed House Bill 1243 last year, making illegal voting — including “voting by noncitizens” according to the release — a second degree felony.
Texas also removed more than 134,000 voters who confirmed they had moved, more than 19,000 who canceled their registrations, more than 463,000 on the registration “suspense list,” and more than 65,000 who failed to respond to a “notice of examination.”
“The secretary of state and county voter registrars have an ongoing legal requirement to review the voter rolls, remove ineligible voters, and refer any potential illegal voting to the attorney general’s office and local authorities for investigation and prosecution,” Abbott said in the release.
Abbott also signed Senate Bill 1113 and House Bill 574 in 2021. According to the release, SB 1113 allows the secretary of state to withhold funding from counties that keep noncitizens on voter rolls, and HB 574 classifies knowingly counting invalid votes — or refusing to count valid votes — as a second degree felony.
“These reforms have led to the removal of over 1 million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state,” Abbott said in the release. “Election integrity is essential to our democracy.”
When The Federalist contacted Abbott’s office for comment, a staff member directed inquiries to the secretary of state’s office.
Alicia Phillips Pierce, assistant secretary of state for communications, told The Federalist that Texas is checking its voter rolls on a “continual basis.”
“We are continually reviewing the voter registration rolls,” she said. “We work with other state agencies to get information about people who may not be qualified voters. We then send that to the counties to investigate removing them from the rolls.”
Texas’ deadline for “sweeping list maintenance” passed Aug. 7. According to the secretary of state’s office, if there is reason to believe a voter is ineligible, it is still possible to individually remove him or her from the rolls.
Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.
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