Some state lawmakers, Austin city leaders and activists are pushing back against what they say is voter intimidation coming from the state's highest elected official.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that more than a million people have been taken off Texas voter rolls since 2021, when Senate Bill 1 was signed into law. The law added a number of new restrictions and criminal penalties related to voting, including new identification requirements for people voting by mail.
Abbott said people were removed for a variety of reasons, and those removed include people who have died, noncitizens and Texans who have been placed on what is called a suspense list, which is a list of voters who are flagged for registration discrepancies, like an outdated address. He claims the reform helps Texas crack down on illegal voting.
“Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated,” Abbott said in a press release. “We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”
The announcement comes just two months before thousands of Texans are set to cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election and local races.
But some local officials are saying Abbott's announcement is ill-timed and a move intended to intimidate voters and sow doubt about the integrity of the election. Removal of voters is actually pretty routine, and the next major “purge” won’t occur until after the Nov. 5 election.
Travis County Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant is in charge of voter roll maintenance for the county and confirmed the clean up is a routine task.
The last time voter list maintenance happened in Travis County was in 2022, when more than 21,000 people were removed from the voter roll, according to county data.
Every two years the county sends out new voter registration cards following a presidential or midterm election, and the cards that are returned are flagged and placed on a suspense list, Elfant said
Cards are returned for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's because it was for a person who has died. It can also happen because of a mistake by the post office, or if a resident says they no longer live in the county to get out of jury duty. But, a lot of cards are simply returned because of change of addresses, Elfant said.
A voter can sit on the suspense list for four years before they are officially removed. However, voters on the list can still vote if they sign a statement of residence before casting a ballot. That is often done at the polling site and resolves the issue.
“What we do with list maintenance is very routine,” Elfant said. “It's a way to keep voter rolls as clean as we possibly can… People move, people pass away... It's pretty dynamic.”
Overall, Elfant said this is not a new process, and there will not be any massive voter removals right before the election. He said he was not aware of any complaints or indications of people being erroneously removed from the rolls.
Abbott’s announcement has also been coupled with other “intimidation tactics,” leaders say. Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a series of raids that targeted Latino households in South Texas that was part of an ongoing election integrity investigation. So far, no criminal charges have been made. Paxton’s office also recently set up an illegal voting tip line.
State Rep. Lulu Flores said these actions are classic intimidation tactics meant to keep people from exercising their right to vote, but it will not stop her and other elected officials from encouraging people to go to the polls.
“Stop scaring us, stop violating our voting rights, and do the right thing,” Flores said.
Elfant said it is not uncommon for infrequent voters to find themselves not registered to vote during presidential election years. He encouraged everyone to check their voter registration status.
As of Sept. 5 there are 908,300 people registered to vote in Travis County, according to county data. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 7. Residents can check their registration and find out how to register at votetexas.gov.
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