The Texas Secretary of State recently told counties many of the voters it recently flagged for citizenship reviews may not belong on the list.
Nueces County Tax Assessor/Collector Kevin Kieschnick says his office was contacted by the Secretary of State’s office on Tuesday. Kieschnick heads up the county Voter Registration Office as well. He says of the roughly 95,000 names flagged by the state, only 462 are in Nueces County.
Kieschnick, who regularly sets up voter registration tables at naturalization ceremonies, believes many of the names on the list are actually recently naturalized citizens. He thinks the Department of Public Safety doesn’t always change drivers license information when a registered alien becomes a citizen.
However, some of the names on the Secretary of State’s list are registered illegally, something Kieschnick believes highlights problems with the registration system.
“People do get through, there’s not a good vetting process currently in place, and the Legislature is the one who sets those processes up,” said Kieschnick. “We’re in a legislative session right now, and this is something the Legislature needs to take up and address as an issue.”
Kieschnick urges people that get a letter from the Voter Registration Office to read it and respond with the required information.
“If any person gets a notice from our Voter Registration Office, they need to fill out that application,” he said. “It’s usually because we get returned mail or we get direction from the Secretary of State’s office to send some sort of information to them.”
Kieschnick says he expects as many as 90 percent of the names on the Secretary of State’s list to be cleared.
