Federal judge halts Texas' 'ham-handed' voter purge

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On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio ordered Texas to temporarily stop purging electoral rolls, siding with voting-rights groups after the Texas secretary of state issued an admittedly flawed list of about 98,000 voters it said might be illegally registered. "The evidence has shown in a hearing before this court that there is no widespread voter fraud," Biery wrote in his order. Texas Secretary of State David Whitley's effort to "ferret the infinitesimal needles out of the haystack" appears to be "a solution looking for a problem," he added.

At least 25,000 voters were flagged because they applied for driver's licenses before they became naturalized citizens, making them eligible to vote, the state has acknowledged, and that number will almost certainly grow as counties cross-reference names on Whitely's list, The Texas Tribune reports. “Notwithstanding good intentions, the road to a solution was inherently paved with flawed results, meaning perfectly legal naturalized Americans were burdened with what the court finds to be ham-handed and threatening correspondence from the state," Biery wrote. “No native born Americans were subjected to such treatment.”

Biery said counties can continue to investigate if people on the list are eligible to vote as litigation continues, but they are not allowed to contact those voters directly and cannot remove a voter from the rolls "without prior approval of the court with a conclusive showing that the person is ineligible to vote." Contacting a voter to demand proof of citizenship begins a process that can lead to the voter's name being purged. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office has given conflicting accounts of whether it has started investigating any of the 98,000 flagged people for criminal fraud, criticized the decision, saying "there is no need for a federal court takeover of state activities" and "we are weighing our options to address this ruling."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.