Greg Abbott Signs Bill Making Illegal Voting a Felony in Texas

Voters cast their ballots during the Democrat presidential primary in Houston on March 3, 2020. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images)

Voting illegally in Texas could carry a sentence of up to 20 years behind bars beginning Sept. 1, when a new law takes effect.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill 1243, which increases the penalties for election fraud from a misdemeanor to a second-degree felony. It also makes attempting to vote illegally a state jail felony, punishable by up to two years in jail.

“I signed a law that makes election fraud a felony in Texas. Voting illegally can lead to a 20-year sentence. Don’t mess with Texas elections,” Abbott wrote on Twitter the morning of June 15.

The measure, signed June 13, comes less than two years after the penalty was downgraded from a felony to a Class A misdemeanor as part of an omnibus voting bill during the 87th legislative session. Illegal voting was a felony for more than 50 years before the punishment was reduced in 2021.

In Texas, a second-degree felony is punishable by a fine of $10,000 and up to 20 years in prison, while a Class A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $4,000 or up to one year in county jail.

The downgraded penalty was part of an omnibus bill, and it went mostly unnoticed until after the bill passed. Restoring the felony penalty became a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Republican lawmakers during the regular session, which ended May 29.

However, the Senate and House had different views on prosecuting those who unintentionally vote illegally.

The Senate approved House Bill 1243 in a vote of 19–11 on May 24 (pdf). After the bill’s approval, state Sen. Bryan Hughes added language related to those attempting to vote while knowing they were ineligible.

Senate Bill 2, the bill Patrick supported, contained the same language, but it died in the House after it failed to meet the deadline. Hughes’ addition meant the bill had to go back to the House, where it would face opposition for the additional language.

In late May, a 10-member committee resolved the differences by rejecting Hughes’ last-minute change that would have allowed prosecutors to go after voters who were unaware they were ineligible to vote.

The House passed the bill in a vote of 86–56, with two present and not voting, followed by the Senate’s second approval in a vote of 19–12.

Increasing the Penalty Is ‘Unnecessary’

Veronikah Warms, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, wrote in a letter of testimony (pdf) to the House Elections Committee in April that it was unnecessary to increase the penalty for illegal voting, and that since the lowered charge went into effect, there has been “no apparent corresponding increase” in voter fraud.

“Lowering the penalty did not, in fact, cause Texans to try illegally voting more often,” she said.

Warms went on to write that increasing the penalty “would do nothing to further deter illegal voting.”

“[I]t will waste tax dollars to further incarcerate people unnecessarily and make voting in Texas scarier than it already is,” she concluded.

In April, Republican state Rep. David Spiller testified at a House hearing in favor of HB 1243 (pdf), saying election fraud does occur in Texas despite what some believe.

“For the folks that think that voter fraud—election fraud—is not occurring, are you aware of the fact that, as of June 2021, there were 534 cases at the attorney general’s office successfully prosecuted?” Spiller asked rhetorically, adding that there were 510 pending cases at that time.

Increasing the penalty for illegal voting is an important step in restoring voter confidence in Texas’ elections, according to Republican state Rep. Cole Hefner, who authored the bill.

“We have made tremendous strides toward election integrity in recent years, but we must ensure Texans are confident the legitimate votes they cast will be counted and are not canceled out by someone who has knowingly or intentionally cast an illegal ballot,” Hefner said during the hearing.

Eligibility to Vote

In Texas, a voter must be a U.S. citizen and must be a resident of the county where they submit their application to vote.

An individual who is at least 17 years and 10 months old can submit a voter registration application, but they must be 18 on Election Day to be eligible to vote.

Convicted felons are not eligible to vote in Texas. However, in some cases, a convicted felon who has completed their sentence, probation, and parole may be permitted to vote.

A person who has been declared totally or partially incapacitated by a court may not vote.

In late December 2022, Texas Secretary of State John Scott’s office released the finding of its 2020 general election audit of Collin, Dallas, Harris, and Tarrant counties.

Overall, voters can have a “very high level of confidence in the accuracy of Texas elections” when state election code and local procedures are followed, the report stated.

The full forensic audit showed the most serious election issues took place in Harris County, followed by Dallas County with two large problems, including “phantom voters.”

According to the report, Tarrant County administered a “quality, transparent election” with only minor findings, while Collin County “proved to be the model of how to run elections in Texas.”