Greg Abbott Removes 1 Million People From Texas Voter Rolls

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    Greg Abbott Removes 1 Million People From Texas Voter Rolls

    🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.

    With a little over two months to go before the November election, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Monday that over 1 million people have been removed from the state's voter rolls as part of an ongoing effort to cut out ineligible people.

    The removal of 1.1 million people from the voter rolls, which include people who have moved out of state, are deceased, or aren't American citizens, happened since the signing of Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) into law in September 2021. At the time, the law was seen as one of several efforts pushed forward by Republican-led states to introduce new voting restrictions following the 2020 presidential election.

    According to Abbott's office, among the people removed from the Texas voter rolls are over 6,500 noncitizens; over 6,000 voters who have a felony convictions; over 457,000 deceased people; over 463,000 voters on the suspense list; over 134,000 voters who responded to an address confirmation notice that they had moved; over 65,000 voters who failed to respond to a notice of examination; and over 19,000 voters who requested to cancel their registration.

    "The Secretary of State and county voter registrars have an ongoing legal requirement to review the voter rolls, remove ineligible voters, and refer any potential illegal voting to the Attorney General's Office and local authorities for investigation and prosecution," Abbott said in a written statement.

    "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."

    The Republican governor wrote that roughly 1,930 of the over 6,500 noncitizens removed from the state's voter rolls have a voter history, and they are being referred to the Attorney General's Office for "investigation and potential legal action." Last year, Abbott signed HB 1243 into law, a piece of legislation that increased the penalty for illegal voting to a second-degree felony.

    Newsweek contacted Abbott's office for comment by email on Tuesday morning.

    Greg Abbott Texas
    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks on stage on the third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Abbott announced on Monday that Texas has removed... Alex Wong/Getty Images

    Progressive and liberal voters on social media shared the news of the voter removals, saying Texans to make sure they are still eligible to vote. "If you live in Texas, check your voter register immediately," wrote liberal account @ArtCandee on X. "Texans, Abbott is bragging about purging voter rolls, so check your voter registration," wrote on X David Leftwich, editor of the Edible Houston.

    While Abbott said that the removal of ineligible voters is crucial to "election integrity," critics have condemned laws such as SB 1 for restricting Texans' voting rights and disenfranchising marginalized voters. Parts of these claims were recognized by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, which ruled in August 2023 that portions of SB 1 violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

    The court found that "requiring rejection of mail ballots and mail ballot applications from eligible voters based on minor paperwork errors or omissions," as originally dictated by SB 1, the law disenfranchised "eligible voters seeking to participate in our democracy."

    Other Republican-controlled states have led similar efforts to purge voter rolls ahead of the November election. GOP officials in Ohio and Virginia have removed thousands of voters from their state's electoral rolls, citing inactive and duplicate registrations and computer errors.

    In Ohio, 26,000 voter registrations were deemed inactive by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose last year. In a statement to Newsweek, LaRose said: "When it comes to maintaining our voter rolls, we don't quietly 'purge' active voters. We remove inactive registrations after we've learned a voter has moved and not been active at the address for more than four years. That's been the federal law for three decades, and it's essential to keeping our rolls honest by eliminating duplicate registrations."

    Earlier this year, LaRose instructed all county boards of elections to start reviewing registrations that could be canceled, as reported by local publication The Columbus Dispatch. Responding to a request for comment from Newsweek, LaRose's office referred to a recent press release where the secretary of state announced that Ohio's 88 county boards of elections "have completed the 2024 annual list maintenance process, removing 154,995 inactive and out-of-date registrations from the state's voter rolls."

    "Every Ohioan, regardless of their political views, should care about accurate voter rolls," LaRose said in a statement. "Diligent list maintenance helps prevent voter fraud and ensures the voice of the voters is heard on Election Day. Ohio's process has been carried out by Republican and Democratic Secretaries of State for decades, and I'm proud of the work our bipartisan elections officials do to ensure it's easy to vote and hard to cheat in the Buckeye State."

    In Virginia, officials working for Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said in November last year that 3,400 voters had been taken off the rolls due to a computer software error.

    Update 08/28/2024, 5:20 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from LaRose's office.

    About the writer

    Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.


    Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more