Texas voters have less than a month to register for the Nov. 5 election.
But as county elections officials work to get more people registered, more than 1 million voters have been deemed ineligible. That includes people who moved out of state or are dead — and it’s a routine process.
“We do list maintenance every single day,” said Trudy Hancock, the Elections Administrator for Brazos County. “So you know it’s not something that’s happened just overnight and something that’s been put in place, but it is important to check your registration.”
Gov. Greg Abbott issued a press release last month touting the removal of ineligible voters, claiming some of them were possibly noncitizens. Experts quickly warned the governor’s framing could be used to undermine trust in elections. At the same time, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued to stop two urban counties from sending voter registration forms to people who are eligible to vote, claiming state law doesn’t allow that kind of outreach and it would risk adding noncitizens to the voter rolls.
Election officials have found no evidence of widespread voting by people who are not citizens in U.S. elections. In 2019, Texas incorrectly flagged 95,000 naturalized citizens for removal from the voter rolls, but backed off those previous removal attempts to settle lawsuits over the matter.
Federal law prevents states from systematically removing registered voters within 90 days of a federal election, though there are some exceptions if the voter has died, been convicted of a felony or been declared mentally incapacitated. Checking your voter registration to make sure it’s active and up to date could save you trouble at the polls. You’ll want to do that before the Oct. 7 deadline to register. It could also help us report on these issues.
Here’s how to check your voter registration. The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and Votebeat want to hear from Texas voters who believe their registrations have been erroneously canceled. Let us know if you find issues with your voter registration through the form at the bottom of this story.
Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.