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What happened?
Voting rights groups are suing the Texas Secretary of Stateโs Office and some county election officials to prevent the removal of voters from the stateโs voter roll based on use of a federal database to verify citizenship. They also claim the state failed to crosscheck its own records for proof of citizenship it already possessed before seeking to remove voters.
Whatโs the dispute?
Last fall, the Texas Secretary of Stateโs Office announced it had used a federal database newly overhauled by the Trump administration โ a tool from the Department of Homeland Security previously used for years to verify the immigration status of individuals seeking benefitsโ to verify the citizenship of more than 18 million Texans on the stateโs voter roll. The office said at the time it had identified 2,724 โpotential noncitizens,โ and had directed counties to investigate.
Votebeat subsequently exclusively reported that some voters included in that figure may have already provided proof of citizenship to the state while obtaining a driverโs license or state ID at the Texas Department of Public Safety. At least one county later confirmed that some of the flagged voters there had done so.
In the lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in Austin Thursday, the plaintiffs said the database, known as SAVE, is unreliable, and that Texasโ use of it to remove people from the rolls, including some who are naturalized U.S. citizens, is a violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
The plaintiffs said in the filing, which cited reporting by Votebeat and other news outlets, that the Secretary of Stateโs Office โdid not consult Department of Public Safety dataโa known source that could confirm citizenship for many registered votersโbefore placing the burden on the voter to provide documentary proof.โ
Who are the plaintiffs?
The nonprofit watchdog Campaign Legal Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of multiple voting rights and advocacy organizations, including the League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Texas LULAC, LULAC Council 102, and nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause and its members.
What are the plaintiffs asking for?
The plaintiffs want the court to declare that the stateโs removal of voters from the rolls using the SAVE database violates the National Voter Registration Act, and want the court to prohibit the Texas Secretary of Stateโs Office from sending lists of potential noncitizens to the counties without โfurther, uniform investigation,โ the lawsuit says.
They also asked the court to prohibit the state and county election officials from removing people from the voter roll โsolely because they have been flagged as noncitizens by the SAVE systemโ and t order that anyone who was removed be placed back on the voter roll until โit can be conclusively proved that such voters are not currently U.S. citizensโ.
What happens now?
The state and county defendants have yet to file a response to the complaint. The Texas Secretary of Stateโs Office declined to comment Friday. At least one other lawsuit filed in federal court challenging the Department of Homeland Securityโs use of the SAVE database is also still pending.
Read more Votebeat coverage of the stateโs use of the SAVE database:
- Texas is diving into a federal database to check voter citizenship. Some experts are worried. July 22, 2025
- Texas counties begin checking on โpotential noncitizensโ on voter rolls. Hereโs what theyโre finding. Oct. 31, 2025
- Texas counties are looking into โpotential noncitizensโ on voter rolls, and say DPS may have proof of citizenship for some, Dec. 2, 2025
Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org.
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