Thread by @TexasTribune

1/ NEW: Texas used money from the Help America Vote Act to help pay for its botched voter roll review that jeopardized the voting rights of thousands of legitimate voters. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

2/ Background: Texas attempted to implement a voter roll review that swept up thousands of legitimate voters who had recently become naturalized citizens.

Several lawsuits were filed.

The state had to settle. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

3/ More background: The Help America Vote Act was first passed in 2002 to enact sweeping electoral reforms.

Texas was granted $23.3 million as part of Congress’ 2018 reauthorization of the act to help improve and secure elections. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

4/ Now, we know that Texas spent roughly $121,000 in federal funds it received from the federal Help America Vote Act to strengthen the state’s election system so it could run its search for supposed noncitizens. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

5/ That money was spent on software updates that made it possible for the secretary of state to receive data from DPS on people who had at one point in recent years indicated they were not citizens when obtaining a driver’s license or ID card. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

6/ But the review itself was flawed from the start.

Within days of announcing it was tagging almost 100,000 voters for citizenship checks, officials with the secretary of state backtracked on that number. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

7/ Lawmakers who were opposed to the voter rolls review questioned the state’s use of those dollars to setup a process that risked discriminating against naturalized citizens and voters of color. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

8/ Those critics say the action flew in the face of the Help America Vote Act’s initial purpose — which was to improve elections and voter access. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI

9/9 Read more here. #txlege bit.ly/2LI8ZqI