Over the last three years, Texas has seen a significant decluttering of its voter rolls, with more than one million names being removed, according to Republican Governor Greg Abbott. This number includes nearly half a million individuals who are no longer alive. The Governor attributes this cleanup to recent anti-fraud legislation designed to intensify the accuracy of our election process.
The removal of these names is indicative of a proactive approach to verifying voter eligibility. Among the removed names were also around half a million individuals whose eligibility status was undetermined, primarily due to no response to state inquiries regarding address updates or other pertinent questions.
The state also removed the registrations of approximately 6,500 individuals identified as ‘potential noncitizens’. These individuals had records that required additional verification related to their citizenship status; these verifications, however, went unanswered.
As it stands, the voter registration rate in Texas is just under 82% of the eligible voting population. This reflects the highest level of voter registration in Texas since 2004, an achievement acknowledged and reported by the Texas secretary of state.
In the Governor’s view, this accomplishment can be traced back to the anti-fraud legislation package he signed in 2021. This legislation introduced randomized election audits conducted by the Texas Secretary of State. Furthermore, counties received stricter instructions to ensure the removal of ineligible voters from the voter rolls, and punitive measures for election workers knowingly contravening these rules were increased.
‘Election integrity is the lifeblood of our democratic process’, commented the Governor in an emailed statement. He emphasized a zero-tolerance policy towards illegal voting in Texas and pledged to protect the citizens’ right to vote and maintain the robustness of the state’s elections.
Voting advocates, while acknowledging the routine maintenance of the voter rolls, argue that the emphasis should not deviate from the fact that many names were removed as part of normal operational processes. They also assert that the 2021 legislation – Senate Bill 1 – mainly introduced additional obstacles to voting.
Sarah Xiyi Chen of the Texas Civil Rights Project argued for a broader perspective on the situation, stating ‘A complete and transparent understanding of standard voter roll upkeep is crucial. Although Senate Bill 1 did introduce stricter registration rules, it is not evidenced that the data can be directly attributed to this law.’
Of the ‘potential noncitizens’, the state found that 1,930 had voting records in Texas. These cases have now been passed onto the attorney general’s office for further investigation, to determine if the votes were illegally cast.
In the context of maintaining accurate voter rolls, Texas has been leading the charge. Texas’ efficient model has been followed by several states, as Christina Adkins, director of the secretary of state’s elections division, shared during a recent Texas House Committee on Elections hearing. In her words, ‘We are good at maintaining lists. We have strong, clean voter rolls.’
She further explained the state’s process of routinely checking voter rolls against database updates provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety. These updates highlight individuals who have provided paperwork confirming their noncitizenship.
In addition, the state removed about 6,000 persons who carried felony convictions rendering them ineligible to vote at the time of record checking. Texas law allows someone under felony indictment to register to vote if they have not been convicted yet, and convicted felons can vote if they have met all the court requirements related to their sentencing.
Furthermore, accurate record-keeping is being extended to those serving felony sentences, inclusive of probation. The secretary of state’s office is currently coordinating with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to access information about felons on probation.
Efforts are being made to carefully identify the right individuals for these checks. The intention is to avoid an overly broad approach that would result in unnecessary investigations and notices. Adkins remarked, ‘The untold story is our precision in identifying the correct individuals without casting a wide net.’
One of the key indicators prompting a review of voter eligibility is returned voter registration cards or other signs of an address change. If these situations are not rectified or if the individual does not vote within four years, the state routinely purges these voters from the rolls. These voters can often re-register without issue. The same process is applied when the state is informed by the individual about their change of address or a request for removal from the rolls. Ultimately, this ongoing maintenance process led to the removal of 457,000 deceased registrants’ names from the state’s voter rolls.