The Texas Senate Democratic Caucus has formally asked the federal government to investigate possible violations of Texan's voting rights after law enforcement officials raided the homes of numerous Latino voter-registration advocates and Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state had purged more than 1.1 million voters from its rolls since 2021.
In a letter sent to the U.S. Justice Department on Friday and announced by Democratic Caucus Chair Sen. Carol Alvarado of Houston, the upper chamber's Democratic lawmakers wrote that recent efforts by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other state leaders "have a disproportionate impact on Latinos and other communities of color, which is sowing fear and will suppress voting."
"Based on media reports and complaints by fellow Texans, we have serious concerns that some recent actions taken by Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton and other state leaders may violate federal civil rights and voting laws," reads the letter signed by all 12 Democrats in the state Senate.
The lawmakers are also asking the Justice Department to look into law enforcement raids conducted as part of Paxton's investigation into alleged illegal voter registration efforts. Paxton launched the inquiry after a Fox Business host baselessly claimed that undocumented migrants were seen registering to vote outside of a state driver's license facility.
The League of United Latin American Citizens — the nation's largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization — called for a federal inquiry into the raids last week, noting that several elderly members had been targeted and stripped of their personal electronics by law enforcement officials.
Abbott on Monday announced that 1.1 million voter registrations had been removed from the state's voter rolls in the past three years, touting a 2021 Texas omnibus voting restriction bill that prohibited drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting and added new mail voting requirements. Democratic lawmakers in the Texas House fled to Washington that year in hopes of preventing a quorum and forestalling the bill's passage.
Most of the purged registrations announced Monday were removed because the voters had died, moved or didn’t respond to notices sent by election officials.
Alvarado said that Texas' past efforts to purge voter rolls — one of which led to several lawsuits, a settlement and the resignation of a secretary of state — have made Democrats particularly wary of its new initiatives.
"There is a pattern with Republicans in this state trying to make it harder for people to vote and making statements without any facts, without any numbers," Alvarado said.
Abbott wrote in his announcement Monday that "of the over 6,500 potential noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, approximately 1,930 have a voter history." The Dallas Morning News reported that those 6,500 people did not respond to notices saying their voter registration was under examination and indicating that they had 30 days to submit information or documentation proving their eligibility to vote.
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"Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated," Abbott said in his announcement. "We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting."
Paxton and Abbott have not provided data or information on how they identified the noncitizens, and Abbott stated only that the voter registration removals had taken place "since 2021."
"We strongly support the maintenance of accurate voter registrations, which was already required by various federal and state laws prior to 2021," the Democrats' letter reads. "However, given the large number of voters who have been removed, a lack of transparency as to what records or data were utilized, and the timing of removals, we are concerned that many legitimate voters may have had their registrations cancelled or suspended."
The 1993 National Voter Registration Act prohibits cancellations of voter registrations within 90 days of a federal election.
Alvarado said Abbott's statements implied voter registration removal efforts were ongoing, prompting concern about potential violations of federal law. She urged voters to check that their registrations are still active.
"The thing that's staring us in the face is the timing of the removals," Alvarado said.
More:'We didn't break any laws': Latino civil rights group demands investigation into Ken Paxton voter fraud chase
This is not the first time state officials have been under scrutiny for their handling of voter registrations. In 2019, an attempt to clean up Texas' voter rolls faltered when the state began with an inaccurate list of 95,000 potential noncitizens, resulting in the secretary of state's resignation, a settlement agreement anda congressional probe.
"Texas has a history of flawed attempts to purge voters and suppressing voter participation, thereby necessitating a close examination of the state’s cancellations," the Democrats' letter reads.
We want to hear from youDo you believe you were one of the 1.1 million people removed from Texas voter rolls since 2021? Was your voter registration examined by the state? The Statesman wants to hear from you. Email staff writer Bayliss Wagner at bwagner@statesman.com.
More:What we know about claims of noncitizens on voter rolls in three states
Statesman staff writer Hogan Gore contributed reporting.
