Still the only voter ID anyone should need
County election officials investigating the eligibility of 2,724 Texas voters flagged as potential noncitizens have so far found that hundreds of the voters registered through the state Department of Public Safety, which requires proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote while obtaining a driver’s license or state ID.
DPS keeps copies of the proof of citizenship that registrants provide, such as birth certificates or passports. The agency also keeps copies of proof of lawful presence in the U.S., such as green cards, provided by immigrants.
But the Texas Secretary of State’s Office told Votebeat and The Texas Tribune it did not check the voters flagged as potential noncitizens against DPS’ records before sending the list to county election officials to verify citizenship.
And at least one county election official has asked Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson and DPS for help checking DPS’ records but has yet to obtain access to them, according to documents obtained by Votebeat through a public records request and an interview.
When Celia Israel, who oversees voter registration for Travis County, asked the state for help determining voters’ citizenship, Nelson’s office directed her to DPS, according to a letter Israel sent Nelson’s office last month. But that agency said it couldn’t help her directly, citing state law, records show.
Israel then wrote to Nelson and DPS officials, asking for help obtaining the records. Nelson responded to Israel Nov. 21 saying her office would “continue collaborating” with DPS.
Nelson’s office did not respond to a request for comment from Votebeat Monday asking whether it would seek to obtain DPS’ proof-of-citizenship records. But on Monday, DPS responded to a request for comment from Votebeat and said it had “recently received” a request from Nelson’s office for information on 97 people — also the number of potential noncitizens the state had asked Travis County to investigate. The agency didn’t confirm whether the request concerned those voters.
In an interview with Votebeat on Monday, Israel said she believes officials have a responsibility to check that data before placing a burden on voters. “These are tools that are at our disposal to ensure accuracy, and I think it’s our responsibility to use those tools before we ask a voter to demonstrate citizenship,” she said.
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Every year, millions of Texans register to vote or update their voter registration information while obtaining a driver’s license or ID at DPS. In 2024, 3 million people registered to vote through the agency.
DPS began requiring proof of citizenship and lawful presence to obtain a driver’s license or state ID beginning in 2008. In 2011, Texas legislators made the requirement state law.
Israel and other election officials have raised concerns about the accuracy of the list of potential noncitizens forwarded by the Texas Secretary of State, citing issues in the wake of the state’s past attempts to flag noncitizens on the voter rolls.
Last year, months before the November 2024 election, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that 6,500 noncitizens had been removed from Texas voter rolls. A joint investigation by Votebeat, The Texas Tribune, and ProPublica later found Abbott’s numbers were inflated and, in some instances, wrong.
In 2019, the Secretary of State’s Office announced that it had identified 95,000 registered voters as potential noncitizens and said that more than half of them had previously cast ballots. But many of the voters in question turned out to be naturalized citizens flagged due to outdated data, and the state ultimately settled a related lawsuit by agreeing to new procedures.
Those new procedures, which were codified into law in 2021 through the sweeping Senate Bill 1, require that DPS share data monthly with the Texas Secretary of State’s Office in connection with individuals who provided proof that they were not U.S. citizens — such as a green card or work visa — when obtaining a driver’s license or state ID.
The article cites numerous examples from various counties in which some number of voters flagged by the SOS were people who had registered through the DPS and thus already had to show proof of citizenship. I don’t know if this is stubbornness, the SOS’ interpretation of the law in terms of what they are required to do, political gamesmanship, or some combination. At a high level, it’s just basic common sense that the SOS should check for who registered via the DPS before sending these requests to county officials. If there was ever any seriousness about “government efficiency”, this is the lowest hanging fruit there is. But somehow, we always have to do this the hard way.