Virginia, Alabama, and Ohio also announced the removal of noncitizens from voter rolls leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Aug. 26 that more than 1 million ineligible voters have been removed from the state’s voter rolls in the past three years, including more than 6,500 noncitizens and 457,000 people who are dead.
Of the 6,500 potential noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, about 1,930 have a voter history.
Abbott said those records were turned over to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for investigation and possible legal action.
The voter roll cleanup started in 2021 when Abbott signed Senate Bill 1, intended to support election integrity and security.
“I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crack down on illegal voting,” he said in a statement on Aug. 26.
Others removed from Texas voter rolls include 6,000 felons, 463,000 people on the suspense list, 134,000 people who moved, 65,000 who failed to respond to a notice of examination, and 19,000 voters who canceled their registration.
Voters are typically placed on the suspense list when their address cannot be verified. That happens when a voter registration card or jury summons sent in the mail is returned as undeliverable.
A notice of examination is then sent to a voter’s address asking questions about voter eligibility, such as citizenship status, age, felony convictions, and mental capacity. Proof of eligibility must be returned to the registrar to remain a registered voter.
Other states have also recently announced a purge of voter rolls that included noncitizens.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said this month that he issued an executive order removing 6,303 noncitizens from voter rolls. Likewise, Alabama removed at least 3,251 noncitizens and Ohio removed 137.
In Texas, Abbott said the voter roll maintenance is ongoing and that the state will “actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote” while also aggressively protecting election integrity.
Texas Senate Bill 1 was a sweeping election law enacted after the contentious 2020 presidential election.
Senate Bill 1 banned drive-through and overnight voting, expanded poll watcher access inside precincts, and made it a felony for local officials to mass-distribute applications for mail-in ballots. Lying while registering to vote was elevated to a felony, and ballot harvesting was criminalized. Identification was required for mail-in ballots.
Also in 2021, Abbott signed Senate Bill 1113, which empowered the secretary of state to withhold funds from counties that fail to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, and House Bill 574, which made it a second-degree felony to knowingly count invalid votes or refuse to count valid ones.
In 2023, Abbott signed House Bill 1243, which elevated illegal voting, including voting by noncitizens, to a second-degree felony.