LWV Celebrates Settlement to Reverse Discriminatory Voter Purge

Naturalized Texas Voters No Longer Affected by Unjust Purge

SAN ANTONIO, TX—The League of Women Voters of Texas and other civil rights groups reached a settlement with Texas state officials today to end the discriminatory purging of the state’s voter rolls. The settled lawsuit was raised in opposition to a purge effort in January that was based on a flawed list of possible non-U.S. citizens. The purge included thousands of naturalized citizens who were eligible to vote. 

“The League regrets that it took a lawsuit to remind our state officials that naturalized citizens have a right to vote and to fully participate in our democracy,” said Grace Chimene, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas. “We are hopeful that new procedures will prevent naturalized citizens from being treated as second-class citizens.  We will continue to work with the Secretary of State, as the chief election officer for Texas, to protect all citizens’ right to vote.” 

With today's settlement, the state will no longer be permitted to use stale data from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to question the citizenship of new Americans. Additionally, it must follow a list of procedures before initiating any program to invalidate the voter registration of any individual based on DPS citizenship data. 

“Voter role purges that disenfranchise eligible voters are nothing short of voter suppression,” said Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters of the United States. “No citizen should have to fear that their voting rights might be taken away because of where they were born. I’m thankful to the League of Women Voters of Texas and its partners for acting quickly and forcefully to protect the rights of these Texas voters.”
 

Contact: Kayla Vix | 202-809-9668 | [email protected]