Today, America First Legal (AFL) applauded the State of Texas for taking decisive action to safeguard election integrity by identifying thousands of potential non-citizens on its voter rolls and launching a statewide verification process. The process and tools used by Texas were outlined in AFL’s nationwide Election Integrity Action Plan, sent to 50 states last year to provide a roadmap for using existing federal law to protect our elections. Texas’s action affirms what AFL has long emphasized: when states use existing tools to confirm citizenship, they can protect the vote, enforce the law, and restore public trust in elections.
In a recent review of its voter rolls, the Texas Secretary of State’s office announced that it had identified more than 2,700 potential non-citizens registered to vote after cross-checking state data against federal immigration records. Counties are now verifying eligibility, removing confirmed non-citizens, and referring any unlawful voting for investigation. Governor Greg Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson have rightly credited access to federal data first made available under the Trump Administration as a “game-changer” in protecting the integrity of state elections.
“Texas is showing what responsible officials can do right now to protect the vote,” said Gene Hamilton, President of America First Legal. “As we laid out for every state last year, each state can use federal data to verify voter eligibility and maintain accurate rolls.”
Last year, AFL sent every state election official an Election Integrity Action Plan outlining exactly how to do this. The plan explained how states can use two federal statutes—8 U.S.C. § 1373 (c) and 8 U.S.C. § 1644—to obtain citizenship and immigration-status information directly from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for any “purpose authorized by law,” including voter-roll maintenance. These statutes make clear that DHS must respond to such requests. Texas’s use of federal data tools to verify eligibility and refer unlawful voting for investigation shows what lawful, proactive leadership looks like.
However, while states can now take action to clean voter rolls, a major vulnerability remains at the federal level. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) federal voter registration form does not require proof of citizenship, and the current interpretation of federal law blocks states from adding that requirement for federal elections. To close this loophole, AFL filed a petition urging the EAC to amend the federal form to require proof of citizenship. Fourteen states, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and hundreds of thousands of Americans, submitted public comments voicing their support.
AFL will continue partnering with state officials seeking to implement lawful, commonsense list-maintenance practices to ensure election integrity.
Read more about AFL’s election integrity roadmap here.
Read more about AFL’s petition to the EAC here.
Read more about the State of Texas’s recent voter roll findings here.