Author's Note:
The original article, "Texas Finds 95,000 Non-US Citizens Registered To Vote -- 58,000 Have Actually Voted In Recent Elections," copied below for transparency purposes had inexcusable reporting errors regarding non-citizens registered to vote in Texas and the reality is that the number of non-citizens registered to vote is nowhere near the 95,000 originally reported.
As noted by Robert Brischetto, Ph.D., former executive director of the San Antonio-based Southwest Voter Research Institute, on MySanAntonio.com tens of thousands were accidentally placed on this list.
Via MySanAntonio.com:
The next day, county elections officials began spotting huge errors. As many as 20,000 were quickly verified as naturalized citizens and counties were reporting errors daily thereafter. Naturalized citizens and voter advocacy groups filed three lawsuits against Whitley for conspiring with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to violate the constitutional rights of naturalized citizens by baselessly questioning their right to vote.
A month after the lists were mailed, state director of elections Keith Ingram testified in federal district Judge Fred Biery’s San Antonio court that more than 25,000 names should not have been on the list because they were citizens.
The judge called the search for illegal voters “a mess,” declaring “there is no widespread voter fraud.” Last week Biery put a temporary halt to the secretary of state’s bungled attempt to remove thousands of people from the voter rolls suspected of being noncitizens, describing it as having to “ferret the infinitesimal needles out of the haystack.”
Based on Brischetto's findings there were only 73 cases of voter fraud -- for various reasons he lists in his piece -- that occurred during the 13 year period used by the Texas Attorney General's voter fraud commission. An exact number of non-citizens registered to vote in Texas is unclear at this point.
Original Article:
On Friday January 25, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that 95,000 individuals registered to vote in the Lone Star State have been identified as "Non-US Citizens," meaning they are illegally registered to vote. Further evidence brought forth by Texas Secretary of State David Whitely confirms that 58,000 of these individuals have broken the law and voted in "one or more" recent elections.
“Every single instance of illegal voting threatens democracy in our state and deprives individual Texans of their voice," AG Paxton said in a statement. "My Election Fraud Unit stands ready to investigate and prosecute crimes against the democratic process when needed."
VOTER FRAUD ALERT: The @TXsecofstate discovered approx 95,000 individuals identified by DPS as non-U.S. citizens have a matching voter registration record in TX, approx 58,000 of whom have voted in TX elections. Any illegal vote deprives Americans of their voice.
— Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) January 25, 2019
According to a press release issued by the Attorney General's office, while non-US citizens are legally allowed to obtain driver's licenses and other forms of ID, "only citizens are eligible to vote." Furthermore, the Sec. of State's office notes that "Voting in an election in which the person knows he or she is not eligible to vote is a second-degree felony in the State of Texas. "
Sec. of State Whitely discovered a "total of approximately 95,000 individuals" illegally registered to vote after a year-long evaluation of Texas county voting registrars. Today, his office announced that 58,000 of these individuals actually voted in one or more election.
"Integrity and efficiency of elections in Texas require accuracy of our state's voter rolls, and my office is committed to using all available tools under the law to maintain an accurate list of registered voters. Our agency has provided extensive training opportunities to county voter registrars so that they can properly perform list maintenance activities in accordance with federal and state law, which affords every registered voter the chance to submit proof of eligibility," Sec. of State Whitely told the media.
The report notes that Sec. of State Whitely "immediately provided the data in its possession to the Texas Attorney General's office, as the Secretary of State has no statutory enforcement authority to investigate or prosecute alleged illegal activity in connection with an election."
"Nothing is more vital to preserving our Constitution than the integrity of our voting process, and my office will do everything within its abilities to solidify trust in every election in the state of Texas. I applaud Secretary of State Whitley for his proactive work in safeguarding our elections," AG Paxton added.