HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Some Houstonians who say they checked a state website to make sure they were registered to vote report they couldn’t find their names.
In some cases, a Harris County maintained website showed they were registered to vote.
Robert, a 72-year-old homeless man living in northwest Houston, said he’s always prided himself on voting.
“I have not missed but two elections since I was 18 years old,” he told ABC13.
But Robert said that when he checked VoteTexas.gov a website maintained by the Texas Secretary of State, there was no one registered to vote with his name and date of birth.
“Since 2015, I have been registered in this neighborhood and voting at the same voting station,” he said.
Robert was initially worried he was one of more than one million Texans purged from voter rolls since a 2021 law went into effect.
The governor’s office said only ineligible voters are being removed, including more than 6,500 suspected non-citizens.
“I don’t look Hispanic. I am an American citizen. I was born in the state of Michigan. My grandfather happens to be a full-blooded American Indian,” Robert said.
“It really (expletive) me off with my friend here, man, especially with his grandfather being an Indian, man,” Robert’s friend, Bruce, said. “He’s got more rights than most of us do, man.”
But if you look closely at the VoteTexas.gov site, you’ll see the following disclaimer:
“‘Am I Registered?’ provides a web-based search of data extracted from Texas’s statewide voter registration database. It is NOT the official record of your registration, which is retained by the voter registration office in the county of your residence.”
ABC13 searched for Robert on the Harris County Voter Registrar’s site, HCTAX.net, and found he was registered to vote.
“But why on Texas I’m not?” he asked.
Eyewitness News reached out to the Secretary of State’s Office, but it being a Saturday, it’s outside their normal hours of operation.
Even now, Robert has seen some evidence he’s registered to vote. He still plans to reach out to the voter registrar’s office on Monday to confirm.
If you’re not registered to vote, the deadline to do so is Oct. 7.
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