Since the implementation of a 2021 Texas law aimed at strengthening election integrity, thousands of non-citizens and felons have been removed from the state’s voter rolls. Governor Greg Abbott announced that more than 1 million ineligible voters have been taken off the rolls due to the cleanup enabled by Senate Bill 1.
Governor Greg Abbott today announced that since signing Senate Bill 1 into law in 2021, Texas has removed over one million people from the state’s voter rolls, including people who moved out-of-state, are deceased, and are noncitizens. That removal process has been, and will continue to be, ongoing.
“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 crackdown 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.”
Since Governor Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law in 2021, Texas has removed over 1 million people from the voter rolls, including:
| Over 6,500 | noncitizens |
| Over 6,000 | voters who have a felony conviction |
| Over 457,000 | deceased people |
| Over 463,000 | voters on the suspense list |
| Over 134,000 | voters who responded to an address confirmation notice that they had moved |
| Over 65,000 | voters who failed to respond to a notice of examination |
| Over 19,000 | voters who requested to cancel their registration |
| Total | Over 1.1 million |
Of the over 6,500 noncitizens removed from the voter rolls, approximately 1,930 have a voter history. The Secretary of State’s office is in the process of sending all 1,930 records to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation and potential legal action. To better crackdown on illegal voting, Governor Abbott signed House Bill 1243 into law last year, increasing the penalty for illegal voting, including voting by noncitizens, to a second-degree felony.
In 2017, the Governor signed Senate Bill 5, which increased the penalty for election workers who knowingly permit noncitizens and other ineligible persons to vote.
Among those removed were over 6,500 non-citizens and more than 6,000 felons.
Governor Abbott highlighted the importance of this action, stating, “Election integrity is essential to our democracy. I have signed the strongest election laws in the nation to protect the right to vote and to crack down on illegal voting.”
He noted that these efforts have resulted in the removal of over one million ineligible voters in the past three years, including non-citizens, deceased individuals, and those who have moved out of state.
Abbott reaffirmed his commitment to protecting Texans’ voting rights while aggressively safeguarding elections from illegal activities.
The cleanup also removed over 457,000 deceased individuals and more than 134,000 people who had relocated from Texas voter rolls.
The governor’s announcement made it clear that the process of maintaining accurate voter rolls is ongoing.
