Voters who present noncitizen driver’s licenses or ID cards for voter identification must also provide proof of U.S. citizenship in order to vote, stated the Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
“When an individual attempts to vote by presenting a temporary or limited-term driver’s license (which federal regulations say must be issued only to non-citizens who are lawfully present in this country) election workers must require that the individual produce a naturalization card or naturalization certificate demonstrating U.S. citizenship to receive a regular ballot,” according to the advisory.
The latest SOS guidance is an amendment to an earlier advisory on October 8, which only said voters should not use noncitizen licenses but still allowed election workers to offer the ballot to such registered voters without further requirement.
The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) issues “Temporary Visitor” or “Limited-term” driver’s licenses and ID cards to lawful noncitizens. They normally expire after one year or at the end of the noncitizen’s period of lawful presence.
“It is possible for a noncitizen who was previously issued a limited-term driver’s license or ID card to subsequently become a naturalized citizen and then fail to obtain an updated, permanent driver’s license or ID card,” stated the SOS Elections Director Christine Adkins.
Despite the explanation, the October 8 advisory quickly drew criticisms from lawmakers and officials that it would allow loopholes for actual noncitizens to vote illegally.
Three days later, the Secretary of State issued an update to require proof of naturalization, including U.S. passports or naturalization certificates, for voters who show noncitizen IDs.
According to Adkins, the SOS uses data shared by the DPS, which contains proof of citizenship and lawful status from every individual with a Texas driver’s license or ID.
“How this process works is we receive information from DPS on a weekly basis of individuals that go into DPS and provide evidence that they are lawfully present in the United States but not a U.S. citizen. That information is compared to our database to see if there’s anybody on there that was registered prior to that transaction date that they had with DPS. Because we get this information on a weekly basis, that data is very fresh and very actionable,” said Adkins.
The SOS advisories have been a part of a growing statewide discussion regarding election integrity as the presidential election approaches.
Texas Scorecard contributed to this report.
