Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has written to the Biden-Harris administration urging it to provide data that would help identify up to half a million people who could be erroneously registered to vote in the state but not be a citizen.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into 454,289 registered voters in the Lone Star State who have never had their citizenship verified. In a letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ur Jaddou, Paxton demanded data to help determine the citizenship status of these individuals.
Paxton, a Republican, argues that the Biden-Harris administration has "legal obligations" to provide this information so that Texas can comply with federal and state election laws prohibiting non-U.S. citizens from voting. Non-U.S. citizens lawfully present cannot legally vote but can lawfully apply for and receive a driver's license or ID card.
Texas AG Probing Half a Million Unverified Voters, Demands Data from Biden Administration
Paxton's letter follows his August announcement that his office's Election Integrity unit executed searches in three South Texas counties as part of an ongoing probe into fraud and ballot harvesting allegations. In the same month, Governor Greg Abbott announced that 6,500 potential noncitizens had been removed from the voter rolls since 2021.
The attorney general maintains that while it is a crime for noncitizens to register to vote, federal law also creates opportunities for them to do so illegally while prohibiting states from requiring voters to have proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. He believes this is particularly troubling given the current scale of illegal immigration and the Senate's failure to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act ("SAVE Act"), which would allow states to ensure that votes are being cast legally by eligible voters.
Texas AG Probing Half a Million Unverified Voters, Demands Data from Biden Administration
Paxton argues that requiring proof of citizenship is a commonsense measure that helps identify illegal registration. He cites a recent Texas Secretary of State (SOS) audit that verified over 1,300 noncitizens were registered to vote in four randomly chosen counties subject to election audits.
Republicans have raised concerns about voter integrity issues and non-citizens being registered to vote ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Officials in Oregon have identified an additional 302 people on the state's voter rolls who didn't provide proof of citizenship when they were registered to vote. In Arizona, the Supreme Court ruled that nearly 98,000 people whose U.S. citizenship has not been confirmed will be allowed to vote in upcoming state and local elections.
Texas AG Probing Half a Million Unverified Voters, Demands Data from Biden Administration
Paxton's investigation and demands for data are part of a broader effort by Republican officials across the country to crack down on alleged voter fraud and ensure the integrity of elections.
