Texas
KUT: Austin officials and state lawmakers accuse Gov. Abbott of voter intimidation
Luz Moreno-Lozano of KUT reports on accusations of voter intimidation by Governor Abbott.
Some state lawmakers, Austin city leaders and activists are pushing back against what they say is voter intimidation coming from the state’s highest elected official.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that more than a million people have been taken off Texas voter rolls since 2021, when Senate Bill 1 was signed into law. The law added a number of new restrictions and criminal penalties related to voting, including new identification requirements for people voting by mail.
Abbott said people were removed for a variety of reasons, and those removed include people who have died, noncitizens and Texans who have been placed on what is called a suspense list, which is a list of voters who are flagged for registration discrepancies, like an outdated address. He claims the reform helps Texas crack down on illegal voting.
“Illegal voting in Texas will never be tolerated,” Abbott said in a press release. “We will continue to actively safeguard Texans’ sacred right to vote while also aggressively protecting our elections from illegal voting.”
The announcement comes just two months before thousands of Texans are set to cast a ballot in this year’s presidential election and local races.
But some local officials are saying Abbott’s announcement is ill-timed and a move intended to intimidate voters and sow doubt about the integrity of the election. Removal of voters is actually pretty routine, and the next major “purge” won’t occur until after the Nov. 5 election.