A new report from Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson claims that more than 2,700 potential noncitizens are registered to vote statewide — including nearly 300 in Dallas County — raising new questions about the potential impact of ineligible voters in close local elections.
Nelson announced Monday that a cross-check between the state’s 18 million registered voters and federal immigration records identified 2,724 possible noncitizens whose names have now been sent to county registrars for verification. The review was conducted using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database, which compares voter records with federal citizenship data.
“Only eligible United States citizens may participate in our elections,” Nelson said, per Fox News. “The Trump Administration’s decision to give states free and direct access to this data set for the first time has been a game changer, and we appreciate the partnership with the federal government to verify the citizenship of those on our voter rolls and maintain accurate voter lists.”
County election officials are required under Chapter 16 of the Texas Election Code to send verification notices to each flagged voter, giving them 30 days to prove U.S. citizenship before their registration is canceled. Those who can later provide proof of citizenship will have their registrations reinstated. Nelson’s statement indicated that confirmed cases of noncitizen voting will be referred to the Office of the Attorney General for investigation and possible prosecution.
According to Nelson’s office, the breakdown of potential noncitizen registrations includes:
Top 10 Texas Counties by Potential Noncitizens
Rank | County | Count
1 | Harris | 362
2 | Dallas | 277
3 | Bexar | 201
4 | El Paso | 165
5 | Hidalgo | 149
6 | Tarrant | 145
7 | Collin | 109
8 | Travis | 97
9 | Denton | 84
10 | Webb | 75
While the 277 flagged registrations in Dallas County and 145 in neighboring Tarrant County are unlikely to alter the outcome of large-scale countywide or statewide races, election data shows that such a number of votes could potentially change the results of certain local contests decided by narrow margins.
Based on Dallas County’s May 3, 2025, Joint and Special Election Summary Results, several local races were decided by fewer than 150 votes — smaller than the number of potential noncitizen registrations Nelson’s report attributes to the county.
Among those contests were:
- Balch Springs Mayor: Rodney Taylor (321) over Carrie F. Gordon (271), margin 50
- Balch Springs Council Place 3: Paula Garcia (62) over Justin Roberts (46), margin 16
- Cockrell Hill Council Place 3: Alejandra Arriaga (66) over Linda McCoy (25), margin 41
- Cockrell Hill Council Place 4: Roberto Arredondo (60) over Heath Garcia (28), margin 32
- Combine Council At-Large: Cecil Hutson (3) over Julian Castaneda (2), margin 1
- Dallas Council Place 8: Erik Wilson (1,129) over Lorie Blair (1,056), margin 73
In a county where local officials are often elected by razor-thin margins, the discovery of hundreds of potentially ineligible voters could carry significant implications for election confidence and administration.
The number of flagged registrations is also greater than the vote discrepancies that triggered a court-supervised recount in Dallas County last year. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, election officials in November 2024 sought emergency relief from a district court after irregularities were found in the tabulation of several precincts.
The Dallas County Elections Department cited “human error in loading high-speed ballot counters” that led to “a difference of more than 3 [votes] in the central count tabulation and the precinct tabulation.”
Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Allen West said at the time that the incident underscored “issues with systems certification, validation, and process implementation,” calling for a third-party audit to restore public confidence.
Gov. Greg Abbott praised Nelson’s latest findings, claiming the ongoing audit has removed more than one million ineligible or outdated registrations in the past three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and residents who moved away. “Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated,” Abbott said, per Fox News. “We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”
County registrars are expected to complete their investigations of the flagged voter files by early December, with official removals and referrals to follow, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Nelson said periodic cross-checks with federal databases will continue to ensure that “only qualified voters cast a ballot in our elections.”