Gov. Abbott: Over 1 Million Ineligible Voters Removed from Texas Voter Rolls

AUSTIN, TX – Governor Greg Abbott announced today that Texas has removed over 1 million ineligible voters from the state’s voter rolls since the enactment of Senate Bill 1 in 2021.

The removals include individuals who have moved out of state, are deceased or are noncitizens.

“Election integrity is essential to our democracy,” Abbott stated. “I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crack down on illegal voting. These reforms have led to the removal of over one million ineligible people from our voter rolls in the last three years, including noncitizens, deceased voters, and people who moved to another state."

The over 1 million ineligible voters removed include more than 457,000 deceased individuals, over 463,000 voters on the suspense list, and over 6,500 noncitizens. The ongoing process also identified over 6,000 voters with felony convictions, more than 134,000 voters who moved out of state, and over 65,000 who failed to respond to verification notices.

Congressman August Pfluger (TX-11) released a statement following Governor Greg Abbott’s announcement that 1 million ineligible voters have been purged from the voter rolls in the State of Texas.

“The integrity of our elections is paramount to the future of our country,” said Congressman August Pfluger. “I commend the State of Texas for cleaning up our voter rolls and ensuring that only legal votes are cast in our state. House Republicans have worked to enact legislation at the federal level that empowers all fifty states to purge their voter rolls of noncitizens, illegal aliens, and foreign nationals.”

Of the over 6,500 noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, approximately 1,930 have a voter history.

The Secretary of State’s office is in the process of sending all 1,930 records to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation and potential legal action.

"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 stated. "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.”

To "better crack down on illegal voting," Governor Abbott signed House Bill 1243 into law last year, increasing the penalty for illegal voting, including voting by noncitizens, to a second-degree felony.
 
In 2021, Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 1, Senate Bill 1113, and House Bill 574 into law.

Senate Bill 1 elevated lying while registering to vote to a state jail felony, criminalized ballot harvesting, required the Secretary of State to conduct randomized audits of elections every two years, banned distribution of unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and ballots, and required ID for mail-in ballots.

Senate Bill 1113 "empowered" the Secretary of State to withhold funds from counties that fail to remove noncitizens from their voter roll. House Bill 574 made it a second-degree felony to knowingly count invalid votes or refuse to count valid votes.
 
In 2017, the Governor signed Senate Bill 5, which increased the penalty for election workers who knowingly permit noncitizens and other ineligible persons to vote.