Austin, Texas – Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), along with 6 co/joint-authors, Senators Brian Birdwell (R- Granbury), Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), Senator Bob Hall (R-Rockwall), Senator Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) and Senator Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown), have signed onto some or all these voter registration and ballot verification bills, to protect voter integrity in Texas. These 3 voter integrity bills are a step in the right direction to ensuring a trusted election outcome, and an accurate and fair voter roll.

"3 for 3, a "Hat trick" of excellent voter bills passed out of the Texas Senate.,” said Senator Bettencourt. "Each one of these bills fix a voter integrity issue up to using DPS and DMV records for citizenship verification for voters, and remove them from the voter roll if necessary. I first testified in the US Congress in 2006 as a voter registrar for a citizenship list, 15 years later I'm proud to pass a bill on it in Texas!" added Bettencourt. I want to thank the members of the Senate that voted for this bill and Lt. Governor Patrick for the support.

These 3 bills would make the following changes in voter registration to further support an accurate voter roll as well as work to address and clarify past and future election disputes:

• SB 1112 prohibits local election officials from suspending the requirement of the Early Voting Ballot Board to verify that the signature on the mail ballot application and the signature on the mail ballot are from the voter.
• SB 1113 provides the SOS the authority to withhold Chapter 19 funds if the voter registrar or elections administrator fails to timely remove voters who should be cancelled from the voter roll.
• SB 1114 boosts SOS efforts by requiring voter registrars to cross-reference voter rolls & motor vehicles records where a person has indicated that he or she is not a U.S. citizen; and remove these ineligible voters.

"These bill are designed strengthen the integrity of the voter roll in Texas." he added. "The public needs to be able to trust that their local election officials are properly doing their jobs…and that the election code is being followed in all cases,” he concluded.

Senator Bettencourt also has additional election legislation that is a part of the package of "Integrity-7" election bills on a wide range of issues addressing the Texas Election Code and voter integrity.

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