The Texas secretary of state originally claimed some 95,000 registered voters were not citizens and could not vote, then it came out that the vast majority were naturalized citizens. Today, a Federal judge ordered the office to tell every Texas county to pause their planned voter purge. Luis Vera with LULAC says "They can continue going through their list, if they want to. They don't have to do anything. They can't remove anyone, they can't do anything until they seek approval."
In his ruling, federal judge Fred Biery wrote the voter purge attempt "exemplifies the power of government to strike fear and anxiety and to intimidate the least powerful among us." He wrote "the state created this mess'' and said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. He called Texas' efforts to find non-citizens on voting rolls "a solution looking for a problem.''
As a result of the fallout, Secretary of State David Whitley does not have enough votes to be confirmed in the Texas Senate.