Days after announcing up to 95K registered voters might be non-citizens, the Secretary of State’s office has been telling counties that the lists contain numerous errors, potentially amounting to tens of thousands of voters.
Erroneously included were voters who registered to vote while getting their driver license at a Dept. of Public Safety office, regardless of their citizenship status or documents provided to prove their identity. Other voters on the list have become citizens since first applying for a driver license or personal identification card.
In several counties, voter registrars received calls from the Secretary of State’s office advising them of the errors:
- In Harris Co., about 18K names – 60% of the original list – should not have been included.
- In Williamson Co., more than half of the original list of 2,033 names were removed.
- In McLennan Co., election officials were told that the citizenship of all 366 people on the list was “not in question.”
- In Bastrop Co., voter registration officials found voters who should not have been included on the list and others who were naturalized citizens.
Former Secretary of State Carlos Cascos said the list should be rescinded, and counties should be provided with an accurate list.
The League of United Latin American Citizens has filed suit against the state asserting that legitimate registered voters would be intimidated from continuing to participate in the electoral process. LULAC criticized the Secretary of State’s office for including numerous false positives on their list.
“They didn’t verify anything,” said LULAC’s attorney Luis Vera Jr. “They didn’t even try.”
HD125 special: Through today (Thurs.), the fourth day of early voting, a total of 960 people have cast ballots in person. This is significantly ahead of the early voting pace for the March 2015 special election for HD124 and roughly the same as the January 2015 special election for HD123.
Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed Fred Rangel, the lone Republican in the race.
Starr Co.: Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton’s (R) office announced Bernice Annette Garza was indicted for voter impersonation, illegal voting and providing false information on an application for a ballot by mail for the 2016 Democratic primary. Garza allegedly requested a mail ballot for a woman who had died nine years earlier.
Dallas ISD: Trustee Jaime Resendez will resign following reports that he no longer resides in the district he represents. Resendez was not planning on seeking re-election because he is running for Dallas city council D5.
©2019 Texas Election Source LLC
