Investigation into Texas voter rolls

AUSTIN, Texas – Over 2,000 registered voters have been flagged as potential non-citizens by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

There were more than 200 flagged voters in Bexar County, and 97 in Travis County. The most significant number came from Harris County, with 362.

Voter rolls investigation

What they’re saying:

“Anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, but is registered to vote did so illegally, perhaps by error, but illegal nonetheless,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.

On Capitol Hill, several lawmakers, including U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, filed a joint petition with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. 

“Since we don’t have a national citizenship ID or card in the United States, there’s no one document that can be used to verify that people are citizens by the counties when they register to vote,” said Jones. 

Currently, the form only requires applicants to self-attest. 

“If these people are not U.S. Citizens, it means that they checked the box and said they were U. S. Citizens when they were not,” said Jones. 

Secretary Jane Nelson stated these suspected cases surfaced across 254 counties in Texas after running the 18 million registered voters in the state through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database. 

“The fact that they are consulting the federal SAVE database means that there is going to be more accuracy here than, say, the case six years ago, when the database they consulted was outdated and included many people as non-citizens who actually have been naturalized over the course of the preceding years,” said Jones. 

Even legal permanent residents are not allowed to vote if they are non-citizens. 

FOX 7 Austin reporter Katie Pratt asked Jones in an interview: “Why would a non-citizen want to vote?” 

Jones replied, “It’s not in the best interest of a non-citizen to vote simply because the penalty that is jail time and deportation outweighs the impact that their one single vote would have on any election.” 

What’s next:

Counties that were tagged must conduct their own investigations, and any voters identified as potential non-citizens will receive a notice from the county registrar to remain registered voters. 

They have 30 days to provide proof of citizenship. If they do not respond to the request, the registration will be canceled. 

Those confirmed cases will be handed over to the Attorney General’s Office for further review and potential prosecution. 

The announcement was made during the first week of early voting in Texas for the November 4 election. Proposition 16 aims to amend the State Constitution and make it explicit that if you are not a U.S. Citizen, you cannot be registered to vote in either local or state elections. 

The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin’s Katie Pratt and previous coverage

ElectionTravis CountyBexar CountyTexas Politics