With special thanks to Jenner & Block LLP for their contributions to a previous version of this guide.

Texas does not allow for challenges to a voter’s eligibility at polling locations during early voting and on Election Day. Texas does allow private individuals to challenge another person’s eligibility to vote outside of the voting period, and this resource details state and federal laws that govern this process and protect challenged voters. Texas’s strong voter protections include requirements that all challenges be made by written and sworn statement and be based upon personal knowledge. 

Outside of the voting period, a registered voter from the same county may challenge another voter’s eligibility but only by written, sworn statement. 

• Only a registered voter from the same county may challenge another voter’s registration,¹ and only by filing a written and sworn statement with the registrar.²
• The written statement must identify the voter being challenged and identify the specific qualification for registration that the challenged voter has not met.³ 
• It is a felony to include any intentionally misleading assertions in this statement.⁴

Challenges must be based on firsthand, personal knowledge. 

All challenges must be based on “personal knowledge.”⁵ Personal knowledge is defined as “knowledge gained through firsthand observation or experience, as distinguished from a belief based on what someone else has said.”⁶ The following are examples of what is not firsthand knowledge: 

• Information from someone other than the voter, including family members, roommates, or anyone else purporting to have information about the voter
• Information obtained from a newspaper or other media sources
• Information obtained from a database or data matching program 

All challenges, except those based on residency, are subject to a noticed hearing before the registrar. 

• For challenges based on residency, the registrar must mail the challenged voter an address confirmation notice,⁷ but only if the address on the challenge matches the address on the voter’s registration record.⁸ Registrars are prohibited from sending confirmation notices to voters challenged on residency grounds within 75 days of an election until after the election has occurred.⁹
• A challenged voter who fails to respond to a confirmation notice within 30 days will be put on the suspense list.¹⁰ A voter on the suspense list can still vote if they submit a statement of residence when they appear to vote.¹¹
• For all challenges other than residency, the registrar must schedule a hearing no later than 20 days after the challenge was filed (unless a later date is agreed to by both parties).¹² If an election is approaching, the hearing must be scheduled before the election.¹³
• The registrar must send notice of the hearing and a copy of the challenge to the challenged voter no later than the 15th day before the hearing.¹⁴
• After hearing evidence, the registrar must promptly deliver a written decision on the challenge.¹⁵ The voter has the right to appeal the decision of the registrar.¹⁶

Federal law prohibits systematic removals of voters within 90 days of an election and ensures that almost no challenge should result in the immediate removal of a voter from the voter rolls.

The National Voter Registration Act limits when and how voters can be removed from the rolls. Under the act, states and counties are permitted to remove a voter in just five circumstances: 

• If state law requires removal for a criminal conviction or mental incapacity
• For the death of the voter
• If the voter confirms a change of residence in writing and 
• Based on other evidence of a change of residence, but only after the state sends a notice and the voter both fails to respond and fails to vote in the next two federal general elections.¹⁷

These restrictions apply regardless of whether recorders are conducting their own list maintenance or responding to challenges. These restrictions apply regardless of whether clerks are conducting their own list maintenance or responding to challenges. 

The act also prohibits the systematic removal of voters within 90 days of a federal election.¹⁸ According to guidance from the U.S Department of Justice, “This 90-day deadline applies to State list maintenance verification activities such as general mailings and door-to-door canvasses. This deadline also applies to list maintenance programs based on third-party challenges derived from any large, computerized data-matching process.”¹⁹

• • • 

Voters in Texas have the right to vote free from intimidation under federal and state law. Baseless challenges to a voter’s eligibility can harass and intimidate the voter being challenged, as well as other voters waiting to vote at the polls. More information on the federal and state laws that protect Texas voters from intimidation can be found here.