AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said her office has conducted a complete comparison and citizenship verification of the state’s voter registration list through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database.
In the process of purging the voter list, the state determined that more than 2,000 potential noncitizens were registered to vote in Texas, according to Nelson.
“Only qualified United States citizens may participate in our elections,” Nelson said in a speech. Press release on Monday. In part, she said, free and direct access to the dataset was a “game changer” for “verifying the citizenship of people on our voter rolls and maintaining accurate voter rolls.”
The statement said 2,724 potential noncitizens were identified as registered to vote in Texas. According to the statement, these files have been submitted to Texas counties, which will conduct their own investigations into the eligibility of these voters. Once this process is complete, individuals who are considered noncitizens and voted in Texas elections will be referred to the Attorney General’s Office.
Those identified as potential noncitizens will receive notice from the county registrar of voters and will have 30 days to provide proof of citizenship, the release said. If the district does not receive a response, the registration will be cancelled.
“Everyone’s right to vote is sacred and must be protected,” Nelson said. “We encourage counties to conduct rigorous investigations to determine whether or not any voter is ineligible,” Nelson added.
Early voting runs from Monday, October 20 through Friday, October 31. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th.