1M+ ineligible voters removed from Texas rolls since 2021, Gov. Abbott says

Ineligible voters removed from TX rolls: Abbott

More than one million people have been purged from the Texas voter rolls since 2021, according to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

Abbott's office says the purge includes thousands of noncitizens who allegedly were registered to vote.

Since the 2020 election, there has been a greater focus on election integrity, specifically in red states and counties with claims of ineligible and noncitizens voting. The topic was discussed at length at a hearing for the House Elections Committee on Monday.

"This is about confidence. I am not calling anyone a fraud-doer, or election stealer, anything like that. It's about confidence, because if people lack confidence, they don't show up to vote, because they think their vote doesn't matter," said Rep. Mano DeAyala (R-Houston).

The issue keeps re-emerging, even though audits of four major counties found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, although Harris County has been criticized for poor oversight and records management.

Statewide, Texas has more than 17 million registered voters.

Governor Abbott says the million people purged from the state voter rolls coincides with new laws on voting security taking effect.

Abbott highlighted some categories, including 6,500 "potential noncitizens" who were purged from the rolls.

Of that, about 1,900 had a voter history and those cases will be investigated further.

Nothing in Abbott's news release indicates evidence of voting fraud so far.

The vast majority of other cases are people who did or who ended up on the suspense list, which commonly happens when voters move without notifying their county registrar.

Christina Adkins, the state elections director, says her office notifies county election officials on a regular basis about the status of potential noncitizens.

"We are sending them data, and it is resulting in cancelation of data," said Adkins.

Since 2021, she says her office has received real-time information from DPS when a noncitizen alerts the state of their status at a location like the DMV.

Election officials in North Texas tell FOX 4 that purging rolls is a weekly activity for their offices and pressure from public activists has skyrocketed.

Collin County has received about 10,000 challenges since April to purge the rolls for different reasons. That is double the number they saw in 2020.

Bruce Sherbey, the county election administrator, told FOX 4 his office already took action on about 80 percent of those cases prior to the challenges being filed.

It is a similar situation in neighboring Denton County, with more than 17,000 challenges in recent months.

(Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images))

"One of the most important things we can do is to highlight the work the counties have been doing. Texas is very good at list maintenance activities. We have strong clean voter roles," said Adkins.

State Rep. Eddie Morales (D-Eagle Pass) asked if there is any fact to recent claims that large numbers of immigrants are being registered to vote.

"This is after a number of migrant surges we have had on the Texas border, so I’m trying to make sure there’s been no anomaly or increase, or peak in noncitizens registering," Morales said.

"We look at that data regularly to look at potential issues or anomalies, and we have not seen any unusual activity. Everything has been consistent with what it has been for the last few years," replied Adkins.

Dozens of counties use outside vendors to help with their management of rolls and other tools. The state admits it is because their system was outdated for large counties.

A new, improved system will roll out next year. Lawmakers suggested passing legislation to make it mandatory for all counties to be on the state system. This does not mean the state doesn't have access to data in those counties.

The final day for Texans to register to vote for the November election is October 7.

You can check your registration status here.