Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that over 1 million ineligible voters have been removed from the state’s voter rolls since 2021.
The purge, which started after Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law, aims to secure election integrity by ensuring that only eligible voters can participate in elections.
The law, signed in 2021, increased the penalty for providing false information on a voter registration form to a felony. According to Abbott, this is part of a broader effort to safeguard the electoral process in Texas.
“Election integrity is essential to our democracy,” Abbott stated. “I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crack down on illegal voting. These reforms have led to the removal of over one million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state.”
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office, in coordination with county voter registrars, has been systematically reviewing voter rolls to identify and remove ineligible voters. The list of those removed includes:
- Over 463,000 voters on the suspense list, indicating potential issues with their registration.
- More than 457,000 deceased voters.
- Approximately 134,000 voters who confirmed they had moved out of state.
- Around 65,000 voters who did not respond to a notice of examination.
- 19,000 voters who voluntarily requested to cancel their registration.
- Over 6,500 noncitizens, with about 1,930 of them having a voting history.
- More than 6,000 individuals with felony convictions.
The records of the 1,930 noncitizens who have voted are in the process of being sent to the Attorney General’s Office for further investigation and potential legal action.
The Secretary of State and county officials have a continuing legal obligation to review voter rolls, remove ineligible voters, and refer any instances of potential illegal voting to the appropriate authorities.
Abbott’s announcement highlights the impact of several pieces of legislation he signed into law to tighten election rules in Texas. Among them, Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 1113, and House Bill 574 stand out for their stringent measures against illegal voting.
Senate Bill 1, for instance, increased penalties for lying on a voter registration form and criminalized ballot harvesting. It also banned local jurisdictions from sending unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and ballots, a move that was attempted by Harris County.
The law further mandated the use of ID for mail-in ballots and required the Secretary of State’s Office to conduct random audits of elections every two years.
Senate Bill 1113 directed the withholding of funds from counties that fail to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls, while House Bill 574 imposed harsher penalties for election workers who knowingly count invalid votes or refuse to count valid ones.
In 2023, Abbott further strengthened these measures by signing House Bill 1243, which escalated the penalty for illegal voting, including by noncitizens, to a second-degree felony.
The removal of ineligible voters from Texas voter rolls is an ongoing process, with the state committed to maintaining the integrity of its elections. Gov. Abbott’s administration remains focused on preventing illegal voting while ensuring that all eligible Texans can exercise their right to vote.
“Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated,” Abbott stressed. “We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”