Jude Joffe-Block
Anthony Nel, of Texas, has been a U.S. citizen for more than a decade and a regular voter for the past nine years, but he was flagged as a potential noncitizen and removed from the voter rolls after he did not respond to a county notice within 30 days.
Anthony Nel is the kind of voter who doesn’t like to skip an election. The 29-year-old lives in the Dallas-Forth Worth area and usually votes early, which he did as recently as Texas’ Nov. 4 constitutional election.
So he was disturbed last month to open a letter from his local election office in Denton County, calling into question whether he was eligible to vote at all.
“We have received information from the Texas Secretary of State reflecting that you might not be a United States citizen,” read the notice.
The notice said he needed to provide proof of citizenship — such as a copy of a U.S. passport, birth certificate or naturalization certificate — within 30 days. Otherwise, his registration would be canceled, though it said he could be immediately reinstated if he showed that documentation at a later date.
[…]
While Nel has a U.S. passport, which he showed to NPR, he worries other naturalized citizens may not have the documents they need on hand to prove citizenship. Without a U.S. passport, Nel would have needed his South African birth certificate and one of his parents’ naturalization certificates.
A survey last year commissioned by the University of Maryland’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement and the advocacy group VoteRiders found that in Texas, 7% of adult citizens do not have easy access to citizenship documents. The number went up to 12% for those under 30.
Nel pointed out it takes time for people to get documents once they request them and there are fees. “It’s almost like they’re adding barriers for these naturalized citizens to maintain their voter registration,” he said.
December 10, 2025.
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