Texas Governor Greg Abbott is backing a request by Secretary of State Jane Nelson for the Biden administration to provide citizenship data, citing the need to maintain accurate voter rolls. Abbott stated that the federal government must “stop hiding the ball” and allow Texas to ensure only eligible voters cast ballots.
Nelson’s request, made in a letter to the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, seeks information on the citizenship and immigration status of certain individuals registered to vote in Texas. The letter asserts that federal and state law prohibit noncitizens from voting and require Texas to maintain clean voter rolls.
According to Nelson, the requested information will be used to verify the citizenship status of individuals who have not validated their citizenship through the Texas Department of Public Safety or another state agency. Once the information is received, it will be shared with county voter registrars to prevent non-citizens from voting.
Nelson’s office is currently compiling a list of individuals on Texas’ voter rolls whose citizenship cannot be verified using existing state sources. She has requested the information be provided by October 2.
Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to Nelson on the same day, encouraging her to request the information and offering his office’s assistance. Paxton stated that federal law has made it difficult for states to verify voter citizenship, and that his office is prepared to support Nelson’s efforts.
Paxton also sent a draft letter to USCIS for Nelson’s consideration, which is similar in content to her letter. The timing of the request, just two months before the November election, and whether similar requests were made in previous years, is unclear.
Nelson’s request follows a recent effort by her office and county governments to remove over 1.1 million names from the voter rolls, including more than 6,500 potential noncitizens. Of those, approximately 1,930 had a voting history, and their information was referred to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for investigation and potential legal action.
The Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
