Att. Gen. Ken Paxton has formally requested that Secretary of State Jane Nelson provide records of registered voters lacking Texas-issued identification numbers.
This newest request from Paxton is part of an ongoing effort to identify and investigate potential noncitizen voters and other cases of voter fraud ahead of the upcoming election.
In his October 2 letter, Paxton highlighted concerns over Texas officials’ ability to verify the citizenship status of certain registered voters.
“Every election official in the State must join me in prioritizing this. Our State and our Country are counting on you to do everything possible to expedite transparency and accountability to secure our elections and make sure noncitizens do not illegally vote,” Paxton said in a press release.
Paxton’s request follows a previous appeal made on September 18, urging the Secretary of State to seek data from the federal government to confirm the citizenship status of voters whose eligibility remains unverified. However, Paxton expressed frustration that the Secretary of State’s office had not yet provided the necessary list for federal verification, citing excessive delays that could jeopardize the ability to remove illegal voters before the election.
“There is no time for delay. Texans cannot afford to lose another second waiting for their vote and their voice to be protected from illegal ballots,” Paxton added.
The Secretary of State’s office has not publicly responded to Paxton’s latest request. As Election Day approaches, voter registration and verification dynamics remain hot topics in Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced in late August that Texas had successfully removed more than one million ineligible voters from its rolls since 2021, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“Election integrity is essential to our democracy,” Abbott said via press release. “I have enacted some of the strongest election laws in the nation to safeguard voting rights and address illegal voting. These reforms have resulted in the removal of over one million ineligible individuals, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and those who have moved out of state.”
According to further data from Abbott’s office, over 6,500 noncitizens and more than 6,000 individuals with felony convictions have been purged from the voter rolls.
Additionally, more than 457,000 deceased individuals and over 463,000 voters on a suspended list have been removed, along with 134,000 voters who reported moving out of Texas.
“Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated. We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting,” Abbott declared.