As Attorney General of Texas, I’m fighting every day to protect the integrity of our electoral process and prosecute voter fraud. Without confidence in our democratic process of self-governance, our public trust will gradually erode and become a serious threat to our way of life. I want you to know that we are working tirelessly to protect that trust between the voters and the ballot box. This week, my office will be requesting additional funding from the Texas Legislature for expanded voter fraud investigations and prosecutions because we need more resources and manpower to fully tackle this growing problem.
News headlines and media reports of illegal voting and the widespread practice of seeding and harvesting mail ballots, together with recent prosecutions and investigations conducted by this office, have confirmed that the threat to election integrity in Texas is real, and the need to provide intentional safeguards is increasing.
I recently wrote to the Senate Select Committee on Election Integrity, seeking legislative authority to partner with state and federal agencies to purge noncitizens from voter rolls, to require Texas counties to notify the state when they remove someone from the voter rolls for not being citizens and to partner with other states to make sure people aren’t voting in multiple jurisdictions each year. I’m also seeking stiffer penalties for lying on voter registration applications and a lengthening of the statute of limitations on the same crime.
In addition to seeking Legislative authority to purge the voter rolls, I’m also asking the Texas Legislature to consider requiring that any person requesting an absentee ballot have photo identification on file with the state. I also want seniors and others harmed by mail-in ballot harvesters to be able to sue the people trying to manipulate their ballots, creating a low-cost no-governmental enforcement alternative for costly vote harvesting investigations.
My office’s recent investigative survey revealed 165 non-citizens had been removed from voter rolls in just four counties over the last two years. These individuals had cast more than 100 votes in Texas elections before having their names removed from the rolls when they identified themselves as non-citizens when selected for jury duty. We are unable to determine the entire scope of non-citizen voting across Texas from the non-citizen jury duty numbers alone but it appears to be a significant problem nonetheless.
My office continues to aggressively investigate and prosecute cases of voter fraud. So far this year, we have obtained a number of arrests and convictions including:
- AG Paxton’s Office to Prosecute Nine Counts of Voter Fraud from Nueces County
- AG Paxton’s Office to Prosecute Two Counts of Non-Citizen Voter Fraud from Harris County
- AG Paxton’s Office Continues Investigation of Illegal Voting Scheme Tied to City of Edinburg’s 2017 Election
- AG Paxton’s Office Makes Arrest; Charges 3 Individuals with 18 Offenses in 2016 City of Hidalgo Voter Fraud Scheme
It is my highest honor to serve as your Attorney General and you have my solemn commitment that I will do everything within my power and authority to ensure that voter fraud is prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows and will continue to make ballot integrity a focal point of my office.
May God continue to bless the Great State of Texas!