This Trump supporter was labeled a noncitizen and kicked off Texas voter rolls – ProPublica

Mary Howard-Elley passionately believes that illegal immigration in the US is a critical problem that only former President Donald Trump can solve. She says the continuation of his border wall and promised mass deportations will make the country safer.

She agrees with Trump’s baseless claims that Democrats are opening the borders to allow noncitizens to vote out of fear that it could ultimately cost him the election.

Howard-Elley didn’t pay much attention when Texas Governor Greg Abbott fueled this narrative by announcing that the state had removed thousands of so-called non-citizens from its rolls, claiming some had a history of voting.

Then the American citizen learned she was among them.

The elections office in Montgomery County, just north of Houston, had sent Howard-Elley a letter in late January saying she had been flagged after she indicated she was not a U.S. citizen in response to a grand jury summons. She had 30 days to prove citizenship or she would be removed from the voter list, according to the letter.

The retired Transportation Security Administration agent was confused about how the county could reach that conclusion. And she seethed at the idea that anyone would question the citizenship of a former federal employee with the “whitest name you could have.”

“Who allows people to do this to American citizens? I understand we have an immigration problem, but come on,” Howard-Elley said in an interview.

The 52-year-old disputes the province’s claim that she responded to the grand jury summons by saying she was not a citizen. Instead, Howard-Elley said, she called and asked to be exempt from jury duty because of guardianship duties for three of her grandchildren.

The Montgomery County district clerk, which organizes jury duties, did not respond to repeated questions and denied a public records request for Howard-Elley’s response to the jury summons, claiming it was exempt from public disclosure.

No matter how she was classified as a noncitizen, Howard-Elley wanted to make sure she could vote. She ordered several copies of her certified birth certificate from Louisiana and confirmed receipt with an election office employee. She thought the matter was solved.

But Howard-Elley’s registration was not reinstated, making her the 10th U.S. citizen identified by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat to be removed from the list as a potential noncitizen. The news organizations tracked them down as part of an investigation which found that Abbott’s claims that the state would remove more than 6,500 noncitizens were likely exaggerated and in some cases false.

The ten U.S. citizens removed from the list represented a range of racial and political backgrounds, and most were removed due to human error.

Abbott’s press release provided fodder for Republicans who warned that noncitizens could vote in large numbers and influence the election, although experts say such cases are extremely rare.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the federal government last weekalleging that the Department of Homeland Security has refused to help the state verify the citizenship status of some registered voters. The federal agency offers states access to a database that can be used to verify immigration status, but Paxton argued that it is inadequate and requires a fee for each verification. Ten other states use the database for voting-related purposes.

Neither Abbott nor Paxton responded to questions for this story. DHS has not filed a response to the attorney general’s lawsuit in federal court.

The case of Howard-Elley shows how eligible voters can be removed from the rolls — and how difficult it can be to get back on the rolls.

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She didn’t realize her registration had been canceled until reporters called her this month. Darla Brooks, Montgomery County’s voter registration manager, told both Howard-Elley and the news organizations that she was not reinstated in March because her birth certificate arrived after the 30-day period she was given to prove her citizenship.

On October 14, Brooks said that Howard-Elley had now also missed the registration deadline for this year’s election and would not be able to vote.

The election official was wrong.

Several voting rights lawyers pointed out a state law that says counties must immediately reinstate wrongfully canceled voter registrations. Brooks initially told reporters that the law did not apply to Howard-Elley because the county had followed proper procedures in removing her.

But when news organizations posed the same question to the secretary of state, who advises provinces on implementing election laws, the answer was different.

An office advice for 2021 instructs counties to immediately reinstate voters removed for failure to respond to a notice once they provide proof of citizenship. They can even be recovered at a polling station on Election Day.

Less than two hours after news organizations sent the secretary of state’s advisory to Montgomery County, Howard-Elley was back on her feet.

“I’m sorry that Montgomery County has to learn the law to follow it,” Howard-Elley said. She added that this election would be the first time in more than three decades that she failed to cast a vote for president. “I just hope they never do this to anyone else again because it’s not fair.”

Montgomery County Elections Administrator Suzie Harvey said her office had never dealt with a situation like Howard-Elley’s, and while she likely saw the advisory when it was issued, she had forgotten the specific guidance. She said her office worked quickly to reinstate Howard-Elley when news organizations flagged the advisory and she is glad Howard-Elley is on the ballot.

“That would have been extremely tragic,” Harvey said.

Not every voter has the tenacity of Howard-Elley, or news organizations asking persistent questions about the way their case was handled.

“Voting shouldn’t be so difficult that you have to be a lawyer or have legal skills to vote,” said Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Perales said it would take “heroic efforts” from the average voter to research election laws and advocate for their reinstatement.

Even then, the decision would depend on how election officials in their county interpret the laws and guidelines.

Three county elections officials gave different answers when asked whether they would reinstate a voter in Howard-Elley’s situation, though all emphasized they would do their best to follow the law.

One said the voter needs to be reinstated. The other two said they would likely reinstate the voter only after the registration deadline if the county had made a mistake somehow.

These disparities give “voters in some counties fewer rights than voters in other counties,” said Emily Eby French, policy director at Common Cause Texas, a nonprofit that advocates for access to voting rights.

Howard-Elley said she is disturbed by how close she came to losing her right to vote. If reporters hadn’t called her, Howard-Elley said, she might have been rejected at the ballot box.

She said she is concerned about whether other eligible voters are among those labeled as noncitizens and that Abbott should investigate whether there are more U.S. citizens among them. The lifelong Republican said state and county officials must be held accountable to ensure more American citizens are not wrongfully removed.

“The system is deeply flawed,” Howard-Elley said. “I find it very sad that we are in a situation like this. You would think that by 2024 we would no longer have these kinds of problems.”

She plans to vote for Trump.