Texas AG Ken Paxton, secretary of state clash over handling potential non-citizens on voter rolls

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) appears to be at odds with Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson (R) over handling possible non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls, as the former is taking a more aggressive approach while the latter seems to be more lenient.

As Paxton has initiated an investigation into non-citizens registering to vote and tried to work with the secretary of state regarding non-citizens on voter rolls, Nelson’s office has issued an advisory that allows voters with non-citizen driver’s licenses to vote. This decision by Nelson comes as Paxton has expressed frustration with how the secretary of state's office has handled non-citizens on voter rolls.

In an advisory issued Tuesday by the Texas secretary of state's elections director, Christina Worrell Adkins, it states that while non-citizen driver's licenses are not acceptable as voter ID, they can be used if the person is already a registered voter.

"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," according to the secretary of state's advisory.

"But when an individual presents a limited-term driver’s license or ID card to vote, the only thing that can be known for certain is that at some time—whether in the past or the present—the individual was a noncitizen who was not eligible to vote. Accordingly, our office has consistently made it clear that Texans should not use this type of license to participate in elections, even if it otherwise constitutes a valid form of ID," the advisory continues.

The advisory explains that only U.S. citizens are permitted to register to vote and cast ballots in Texas.

However, if a person is on the voter rolls and "possesses a limited-term driver’s license or identification card but also possesses another acceptable form of photo identification," then "it is recommended that the individual present the other form of photo identification because the limited-term driver’s license or identification card necessarily denotes that the person was not a United States citizen at the time of its issuance," according to the guidance.

If a person "with a limited-term driver’s license or identification card appears to vote and is listed as registered voter," then an "election judge or clerk should inform the individual that the identification presented suggests that the individual is not a United States citizen. The election judge or clerk should then inform the individual as to the eligibility requirements to vote in the State of Texas," the advisory continues.

The guidance also states that a person with a limited-term driver’s license or identification card can vote if they are listed on the voter rolls.

"If the individual does not have further questions or concerns and wishes to proceed to vote, the individual should be offered a regular ballot. Please note that it is possible the individual became a naturalized United States citizen after the limited-term license or identification card was issued and has not updated his or her Texas driver’s license or identification card since becoming naturalized," according to the guidance.

But if the person is not on the voter rolls and has a non-citizen driver's license or ID, then they may still vote by provisional ballot. In Texas, provisional ballots are used to "ensure that all voters are able to cast a ballot even if voter eligibility is uncertain at the time the voter votes."

In a situation where a person with a non-citizens driver's license or ID tries to vote "and the election judge or clerk has reason to believe that the voter is not a United States citizen, the election judge or clerk may bring this to the attention of the county voter registrar," according to the guidance.

Meanwhile, the secretary of state's office list of acceptable voter ID that is to be posted in polling places reads:

• Texas Driver License issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
• Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
• Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
• Texas Handgun License issued by DPS
• United States Military Identification Card containing your photograph
• United States Citizenship Certificate containing your photograph
• United States Passport (book or card)

The secretary of state’s office sent a letter to Paxton's office on Wednesday, informing him of the advisory sent on Tuesday due to receiving "questions from election officials regarding the presentation of a limited-term driver’s license or identification cards as a form of identification by an individual seeking to vote in person during early voting or on election day."

Nelson asked if "a temporary or limited-term driver’s license or identification card issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety that generates questions of voter eligibility an otherwise valid form of identification" for elections, whether an election official can "provide a ballot to an individual who presents only a temporary or limited-term driver’s license or identification card in order to vote in person," and how election officials should "treat a mail-in ballot that supplies only an identification number from a temporary or limited-term driver’s license or identification card, either for purposes of counting the vote or for investigating instances of fraud?"

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Last week, the attorney general’s office sent a letter to Nelson regarding the state voter rolls. Paxton asked for the list of registered voters who “the Secretary of State does not have a State of Texas issued driver’s license or identification card number for that individual.”

“There is no time for delay. Texans cannot afford to lose another second waiting for their vote and their voice to be protected from illegal ballots,” Paxton said in a statement last Wednesday. “Every election official in the State must join me in prioritizing this. Our State and our Country are counting on you to do everything possible to expedite transparency and accountability to secure our elections and make sure non-citizens do not illegally vote.”

In September, Paxton had urged Nelson to request citizenship data from the federal government to determine the eligibility of registered voters whose citizenship status was uncertain.

“The Secretary of State’s Office ultimately sent a request to the federal government that allows for excessive delays, potentially preventing Texas from receiving this critical information before the election,” the attorney general’s office said last Wednesday. “Crucially, the request sent by SOS did not provide any information to the federal government about the individuals whose citizenship status needs to be verified, which defeats the purpose of the letter.

“Now, two weeks later and just one month from the election, the Texas Secretary of State still has not sent the list of Texas’s potential noncitizen voters to the federal government for verification,” Paxton’s office continued. 

Nelson sent a letter to Paxton last Wednesday, explaining that her office hadn't received citizenship information from the Biden-Harris administration and that she was "securely transmitting the list of voters you described in your letter so that you may take additional actions as appropriate."

The secretary of state’s office provided Just the News with both the Oct. 2nd and Oct. 9th letters in response to a request for comment on Wednesday.

On Monday, Paxton sent his own request to the Biden-Harris administration.

“To expedite the process of voter eligibility verification, Attorney General Paxton requested a list of the approximately 450,000 voters whose citizenship status has never been checked from the Texas Secretary of State so he could send it to the federal government himself,” the attorney general’s office said. 

Texas state government offices have announced efforts targeting non-citizen voters over the last couple of months. In August, Paxton announced that his office had launched an investigation into organizations allegedly registering non-citizens to vote.

The AG's Election Integrity Unit found that multiple nonprofit organizations have opened booths outside Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License offices to assist with voter registration. U.S. citizens have the opportunity to register to vote at the offices when they are being issued or renewing their driver’s license or identification card.

Later that month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that more than 1 million ineligible voters have been removed from voter rolls since 2021. More than of those were 6,500 removed from the state's voter rolls were non-citizens, yet about 1,930 of them have voted. The records of those 1,930 voters were in the process of being sent to the attorney general's office from the secretary of state's office for investigation.