Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ Texas went looking for voter fraud. Then everything fell apart.

We’ve been on this story since day one. Here’s how an attempt to review Texas' voter rolls turned into a debacle. #txlege

bit.ly/2TpxDf5

2/ One week ago, Texas loudly announced that counties should check on the citizenship of 95,000 registered voters.

Then, Texas quietly told counties that many of the voters flagged for citizenship review don't belong on that list.

How did we get there? bit.ly/2TpxDf5

3/ The seeds were planted in 2013.

Then, Texas lawmakers quietly passed a law granting the secretary of state’s office access to personal information maintained by DPS. #txlege

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4/ But it appears that the secretary of state’s office held off for years.

Former Secretary of State Carlos Cascos said he had no memory of even considering using the DPS data when he served from 2015 to 2017. #txlege

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5/ Other states learned the hard way that using this methodology was risky. bit.ly/2TpxDf5

6/ In Florida, officials in 2012 first drew up a list of about 180,000 possible noncitizens.

It was later culled to about 2,600 names.

Ultimately, only about 85 voters were nixed from the rolls. bit.ly/2TpxDf5

7/ Colorado started with a list of 11,805 individuals who they said were noncitizens when they got their driver’s licenses.

In the end, officials said they had found about 141 noncitizens on the rolls — 35 with a voting history.

bit.ly/2TpxDf5

8/ So a lot of caveats should have been mentioned when Texas first announced this news on Friday.

That's not what happened. #txlege

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9/ Ken Paxton took to Twitter within the hour and prefaced the news with the words “VOTER FRAUD ALERT.”

That tweet has been retweeted nearly 35,000 times. #txlege

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10/ Greg Abbott thanked Paxton and the secretary of state “for uncovering and investigating this illegal vote registration.” bit.ly/2TpxDf5 #txlege

11/ The Republican Party of Texas sent out a fundraising email with the subject line that read “BREAKING: 95,000 Non-Citizens Registered to Vote?!”

That is not what the secretary of state's office said.

But misinformation spread quickly. #txlege

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12/ Even the president chimed in, claiming on Twitter that “58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas” and adding the unsupported claim that “voter fraud is rampant” across the country.

Again, that is not what the secretary of state's office said. #txlege

bit.ly/2TpxDf5

13/ But when El Paso County’s election administrator examined the list of 4,152 names she got from the state, she knew something was wrong.

Included on her list was one of her staff members — a naturalized citizen since 2017. #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

14/ In Harris County alone, the state’s flub translated to about 18,000 voters. #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

15/ In Travis County, officials dropped 634 voters off their original list of 4,558. #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

16/ Dallas County’s original list of 9,938 dropped by more than 1,700 voters.

In Tarrant County, it was about 1,100 voters cleared from the original 5,800.

#txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

17/ And the secretary of state’s office told the McLennan County elections office to disregard its entire list of 366 voters. #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

18/ The news is frustrating to Texans like Julieta Garibay.

She finally took her oath of citizenship in a federal building in last April.

She excitedly cast a ballot last November.

But now, she's been stewing since Friday. #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

19/ Julieta Garibay was sure she was on the list.

A Travis County official called her to confirm her suspicions on Wednesday, after Garibay had reached out. She's frustrated. #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5

20/20 “For someone to say you did something wrong when it’s your right to do it, I don’t even have words.” #txlege bit.ly/2TpxDf5