Governor Greg Abbott announced today that since the enactment of Senate Bill 1 in 2021, Texas has removed over one million ineligible voters from its rolls. The removals include individuals who have moved out-of-state, are deceased, or are noncitizens.
"Election integrity is essential to our democracy," said Governor Abbott. "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 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. 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."
The breakdown of those removed includes:
- Over 6,500 noncitizens
- Over 6,000 voters with felony convictions
- Over 457,000 deceased individuals
- Over 463,000 voters on the suspense list
- Over 134,000 voters who confirmed they had moved
- Over 65,000 voters who failed to respond to a notice of examination
- Over 19,000 voters who requested cancellation of their registration
Of these removals, approximately 1,930 noncitizens have a voter history. The Secretary of State’s office is sending these records to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation and potential legal action.
To further address illegal voting issues, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 1243 into law last year. This legislation increases penalties for illegal voting by noncitizens to a second-degree felony.
In addition to Senate Bill 1 enacted in 2021—which criminalized ballot harvesting and required ID for mail-in ballots—Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 1113 and House Bill 574 into law. Senate Bill 1113 allows withholding funds from counties that fail to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls. House Bill 574 makes it a second-degree felony to knowingly count invalid votes or refuse valid ones.
Earlier legislative efforts include Senate Bill 5 signed in 2017 which increased penalties for election workers permitting noncitizen voting.
