Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration accusing it of failing to cooperate in verifying the citizenship of some registered voters for the November 5 elections. This action aligns with complaints from other Republican-led states, such as Florida and Alabama, claiming that thousands of non-citizens could vote in the upcoming elections. Despite these allegations, numerous studies have shown that instances of non-citizens voting in the United States are rare.
In the lawsuit, Paxton points out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not provided sufficient support to the state to verify the citizenship of around 450,000 registered voters in Texas. Although the attorney acknowledges that most individuals being investigated are citizens, he claims that greater cooperation from the DHS is needed in this process.
In response, a DHS spokesperson indicated that there is an online system called SAVE, managed by the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), that helps election officials verify the immigration status of registered voters. This system has been in operation since 1986 and is used by over 1,200 agencies at various levels of government.
In recent months, the Texas government has intensified its actions against electoral fraud, which has drawn criticism from political leaders and local activists who consider it a strategy of intimidation towards Latino voters. Latinos make up the largest demographic group in Texas, representing 40.2% of the population, and it is expected that 6.5 million Hispanics will participate in the elections.
It is noteworthy that various political figures, including former President Donald Trump, have spread the unfounded idea that Democrats seek to encourage voting by newly arrived migrants. These claims have been supported by Elon Musk, who has made multi-million dollar contributions to Trump's campaign. However, investigations have concluded that there is no evidence of mass voting by non-citizens in U.S. elections. In fact, an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center found only 77 cases of electoral offenses committed by non-citizens between 1999 and 2023.
