Not Dead Yet—Purging Voters from the Rolls in Texas

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A law passed in 2011 in Texas mandated the state match its voter list with the Social Security Administration’s master death file. After a recent comparison of the lists, more than 80,000 matches were found statewide.

In Harris County, home of Houston, more than 9,000 voters were flagged as being on the master death list. However, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Don Sumners has said he will not purge any of these voters from the rolls and will wait to act until after the November election.

Sumners stated his office has received about 300 complaints from people who received these mailings saying they are in fact alive and well and he is not confident in the reliability of the list.

Dallas County officials have also said they will not remove any voters from the rolls until after the election.