Texas officials are asking the federal government for citizenship information on voters after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he obtained a list of approximately 454,000 individuals who are registered to vote in the state but haven’t had their citizenship verified.
Paxton told Ur Jaddou, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in an Oct. 7 letter that he is seeking the citizenship and immigration status for the voters on the list he obtained because, he says, there is no way to confirm the citizenship status without the federal government’s assistance.
In Texas, citizenship status is automatically verified when people register to vote using a driver’s license or state-issued ID, as noncitizens cannot vote but can legally hold a license or ID. Paxton said that those on the list allegedly did not use such identification, and that information could not be obtained by the Texas Department of Public Safety, leaving their status unverified….