The advisory that went out on January 25, 2019 Texas Secretary of State David Whitley is provided below. This January 28, 2019 Texas Tribune piece titled, "Civil rights groups warn that Texas voter citizenship check could violate federal law," shows that our state's civil rights community is responding, alleging possible violations of state law.
We must call out official for making voting that much more difficult. We must protect democracy and protect the vote. Glad to see the civil rights community responding.
-Angela Valenzuela
Secretary Whitley Issues Advisory On Voter Registration List Maintenance Activity
"Integrity and efficiency of elections in Texas require accuracy of our state's voter rolls"
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Janauary 25, 2019
Contact: Sam Taylor
512-463-6116
Contact: Sam Taylor
512-463-6116
AUSTIN – Texas Secretary of State
David Whitley today issued an advisory
to county voter registrars regarding voter registration list maintenance
activities, which include identifying any non-U.S. citizens registered to vote
in the State of Texas. For the past year, the Texas Secretary of State's office
has worked closely with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to evaluate
information regarding persons identified to not be citizens of the United
States. This voter registration list maintenance activity is being conducted in
accordance with federal and state law to ensure that only qualified voters - who must
first and foremost be U.S. citizens - are registered to vote in Texas
elections.
Through this evaluation,
the Texas Secretary of State's office discovered that a total of approximately 95,000 individuals identified by
DPS as non-U.S. citizens have a matching voter registration record in
Texas, approximately 58,000 of
whom have voted in one or more Texas elections. Voting in an election in which
the person knows he or she is not eligible to vote is a second-degree
felony in the State of Texas. Upon receipt of this information, the Texas
Secretary of State's office immediately provided the data in its possession to
the Texas Attorney General's office, as the Secretary of State has no statutory
enforcement authority to investigate or prosecute alleged illegal activity in
connection with an election.
Secretary Whitley issued
the following statement:
"Integrity and
efficiency of elections in Texas require accuracy of our state's voter rolls,
and my office is committed to using all available tools under the law to
maintain an accurate list of registered voters. Our agency has provided
extensive training opportunities to county voter registrars so that they can
properly perform list maintenance activities in accordance with federal and
state law, which affords every registered voter the chance to submit proof of
eligibility. I would like to thank the Department of Public Safety for
providing us with this valuable information so that we can continue to
guarantee the right to vote for all eligible Texas voters, who should not have
their voices muted by those who abuse the system."
Going forward, the Texas
Secretary of State's office will use information it obtains from DPS on a
monthly basis to cross-reference with Texas' statewide voter registration
database and match potential non-U.S. citizens who have registered to vote.
Once a voter registration is identified as a match, the Texas Secretary of
State's office will notify the county in which the person is registered so that
the county voter registrar can take action.
The following combinations
of matches between information in DPS-provided data and the statewide voter
registration database are used to identify possible non-U.S. citizens
registered to vote:
- Last Name, First Name, and Full Social Security Number;
- Last Name, First Name, and DPS-issued Driver License, Personal Identification Card, or Election Identification Certificate Number; or
- Last Name, First Name, Last Four Digits of Social Security Number, and Date of Birth
If a registered voter is
identified as a non-U.S. citizen, he or she should receive a Notice of
Examination (PDF) from the county voter registrar indicating that his
or her registration status is being examined on the grounds that he or she is
not a U.S. citizen. The registered voter will then be required to provide proof
of citizenship in order to stay registered, which may be done by submitting to
the voter registrar a copy of one of the following documents:
- A certified copy of the voter's birth certificate
- United States passport; or
- Certificate of naturalization (Citizenship certificate)
If the person responds
indicating he or she is not a U.S. citizen, or fails to respond to the Notice
within 30 days, then the voter registration will be cancelled by the county
voter registrar. County voter registrars have been provided with numerous
training opportunities to ensure that list maintenance activities are conducted
in accordance with state and federal law so as to not affect eligible voters.
Texas voters who wish to
check their registration status can visit the Texas Secretary of State's "Am I Registered?"
tool online or contact the
voter registrar in their county of registration.
