The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, along with partner organizations, filed a lawsuit against the acting Texas Secretary of State David Whitley and Director of Elections Keith Ingram for the creation and rollout of a flawed voter purge list that discriminated against naturalized citizens.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Texas, MOVE Texas Civic Fund, JOLT Initiative, and an individual. It claimed that Texas officials created and sent a flawed advisory to counties that flagged tens of thousands of registered voters for citizenship reviews, despite knowing that the list was largely comprised of naturalized citizens eligible to vote. 

The ACLU of Texas and other organizations successfully defeated attempts to dismiss the lawsuit by the secretary of state and defendant counties and achieved a temporary restraining order against execution of the voter purge process. 

In April 2019, a settlement with the state and all plaintiffs was reached and the case was dismissed, ending the attempted voter purge.

Date filed

February 4, 2019

Court

U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas

Status

Won

Case number

5:19-cv-0007