The Texas secretary of state updated the instructions last week that require voters to provide proof of citizenship by instructing surveys workers to supply ballots to those who present a noncitizen vehicle’s license.
Election officials are required by state legal laws to not allow illegal ballot by non-citizens, according to a Friday note from Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson to vote authorities. Election workers must require that a person produce a registration card or registration document demonstrating U.S. membership to receive a regular vote when an entity attempts to vote by presenting a temporary or limited-term pilot’s license ( which federal regulations say must be issued only to non-citizens who are lawfully present in this nation ).
Nelson said the shift came after the state’s attorney general did not respond to her company’s ask for a “formal legal mind” on” this critical problem”.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told The Federalist the updated guidance is a” great stage” in the right direction.
” Turning down every legal action necessary to ensure that hardly a second noncitizen vote is thoroughly important,” Roy said. ” The secretary of state’s revised instruction was a great step in that direction. I believe we must continue talking to make sure that we have done everything we can, and that the Texas government should make more legal clarification to ensure the integrity of our elections.
In a Friday article on X, Republican Texas state member Brian Harrison, who assisted Roy and others in getting the assistance changed, said he was pleased with the update, but he claimed it was “really unlucky” that it took for people pressure from people like Rep. Roy and myself to make the Secretary of State do the right thing and retract that terribly mistaken election advisory.
” Early voting is starting soon, so I felt like we did n’t have the luxury of waiting and went public and demanded that this guidance be retracted,” Harrison continued. The secretary of state and all other Texas government agencies must concentrate on making sure that no noncitizens cast ballots in our elections. Any other number besides 0 is a failure and unacceptable to me.
The initial guidance, issued Tuesday by Nelson’s office and signed off by Director of Elections Christina Adkins, instructed poll workers to give ballots to people who presented a “limited-term” driver’s license or ID card.
The Texas Department of Public Safety may issue “temporary or limited-term” driver’s licenses or identification cards to those who are legally residing in the state but are not citizens. The original guidance directed poll workers to “inform the person that the identification presented suggests that the individual is not a United States citizen” and that noncitizen voting is prohibited if the person presents a limited-term noncitizen license or ID and is already registered to vote.
The original instructions stated that a person should be offered a regular ballot if they do not wish to cast a ballot if they do not have any further queries or concerns. According to Nelson’s initial advice, “it is possible that the person became a naturalized citizen after their Texas driver’s license or identification card was issued and has not updated their Texas driver’s license or identification card.”
Roy indicated on Wednesday that his office was “aware of]the ] problem” presented by the original guidance and was working with Nelson’s office to “address” it. In a follow-up post on Thursday, Roy, citing the Texas Department of Public Safety, claimed that more than 2.8 million noncitizens have driver’s licenses, commercial driver’s licenses, or IDs.
When he and others became aware of the original guidance, they “engaged in friendly diplomacy with the secretary of state and attorney general to make clear that it would be mistake to just issue blanket guidance accepting a noncitizen ID as proof of being able to vote in the election” when in reality a noncitizen ID should first raise the alarm that this individual may not be a citizen.”
Roy noted that” a small subset of people may have become naturalized ( and thus be eligible to vote ) and still have an ID, but that should be taken into account” through other means.”
Republican Texas State Senator Paul Bettencourt also made an opinion on the matter, citing Nelson’s request for a legal opinion from the attorney general, who emphasized the “paramount importance” of “voter roll integrity.”
In a Thursday post on X, Bettencourt wrote that “voter roll integrity is of paramount importance to any democracy. There are a few facts in which to believe as a senator, former county tax assessor, former county voter register, and now. Non-citizens should not be able to vote in Texas, but all eligible Americans should be able to do so.
For more election news and updates, visit , electionbriefing.com.
The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman is a correspondent for elections. With a degree in International Political Economy, Brianna received her degree from Fordham University. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2