AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas election officials turned over the state’s voter registration data to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Texas election officials confirm they provided the information to the department and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the DOJ in a Dec. 23, 2025 letter shared with Nexstar.
The DOJ says the information, which they requested from all 50 states, will be used to compare state voter rolls to federal databases to confirm state voter rolls only include registered voters.
“Clean voter rolls and basic election safeguards are requisites for free, fair, and transparent elections. The DOJ Civil Rights Division has a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, and ensuring the voting public’s confidence in the integrity of our elections is a top priority of this administration,” wrote assistant attorney general for the civil rights division Harmeet K. Dhillon, in a statement to Nexstar.
It’s unclear exactly how much personal information was shared, but critics fear it may include sensitive information such as driver’s license numbers, birth dates and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.
Twelve other states besides Texas, including nearby Louisiana and Mississippi, have also signed MOUs with the DOJ.
Texas did not release their MOU on request, but according to the terms of the DOJ memorandum released by the state of Wisconsin, states must act “within (45) forty-five days of receiving that notice from the Justice Department of any issues… by removing ineligible voters and [resubmitting the updated data to the DOJ].” Wisconsin and 22 other states are currently being sued by the DOJ for not turning over their voter regisration logs.
In a letter obtained by The Texas Tribune and Votebeat, Daniel Freeman, the Democratic National Committee’s litigation director, told Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, that the state’s memorandum with the DOJ could easily violate the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
Specifically, NVRA prevents states from purging people off the registered voter list within 90 days of a federal election — with exceptions for deaths, felony convictions and the voter giving permission to be taken off the registered voter list.
NVRA also requires states to send a letter to those who they believe are no longer eligible to vote at their listed address. From then, a voter would have to skip two federal election cycles and not respond to the letter to get kicked off the voter roll without the voter’s permission.
“It is the state’s responsibility under the Constitution to be running their own voter registration systems, to decide who is and isn’t an eligible voter, and there are very few federal restrictions on that when it comes to an affirmative requirement to look for ineligible voters and take them off the rolls,” Freeman told Nexstar. “DOJ is just acting completely outside of the confines of our constitutional system, let alone the specific federal statutes that they’re supposed to be enforcing.”
While several states have rebuked the DOJ’s authority to request registered voter lists, attorneys with the DOJ maintain that the administration has authority to access the data under federal election law.
“Congress gave the Justice Department authority under the NVRA, [Help America Vote Act], the Civil Rights Act, and other statutes to ensure that states have proper voter registration procedures… The recent request by the Civil Rights Division for state voter rolls is pursuant to that statutory authority, and the responsive data is being screened for ineligible voter entries,” wrote a spokesperson with the DOJ in a statement to KXAN.
The Trump administration’s more direct role in addressing alleged voter fraud has been mirrored in Texas by Gov. Greg Abbott, who has called for the state to take over election administration in Harris County.
Texas State Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Harris County, believes the moves — including sending voter rolls to the federal government and threatening state intervention in Harris County elections — were part of an effort by the governor to suppress non-GOP voters in the county and across the state.
“Governor Abbott again, because he says that he wants to make Harris County as red as he can and he can’t do that on policy,” said Johnson. “[So] of course he wants to try to change the manner in which things are happening. Every jurisdiction has the power and has the ability and is supposed to monitor and maintain their own elections, and it is all already supervised by the Secretary of State.”
Abbott commented on the change on X Monday morning, saying “We want our voter rolls to be checked for potential ineligible registrations. Only U.S. citizens can vote in Texas.”