Amarillo adjusts to new citizenship verification system

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Since the fall, the Texas Secretary of State’s office has limited it’s screening of voters to those who registered to vote who then later indicated to the Department of Public Safety that they are not citizens.

Being less restrictive than the previous system in 2019 flagging nearly 100,000 voters for citizenship checks that were in error, there are some still having issues to make sure their vote counts.

In Amarillo the situation is different.

With 57,000 registered voters in Potter County only 30 requests have been sent to people to have their statuses reviewed.

In Randall County with 93,000 voters, only 18 requests have been sent.

After no response in 30 days to show proof of citizenship, officials can cancel registrations.

“For the most part, everyone has been cancelled due to non response,” said MeLynn Huntley, elections administrator for Potter County.

The Randall County Elections Office released a statement, saying that counties need to stay updated on keeping an accurate count with the new system.

Falling behind in numbers means they face the risk of having funds withheld from the state.

Huntley says people can be reinstated anytime by coming to her office and showing citizenship documents after the 30 day time period.

The new system will make minimum impact during the primary elections in March.

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