TYLER, Texas — The Smith County Elections administrator has been named in a federal lawsuit alleging that the state and counties have discriminated against naturalized citizens and people of color by flagging their voter files for citizenship review.
Karen Nelson, who was not available for comment Monday morning, was issued a summons in the case on Wednesday, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The summons can be read here.
The case, Move Texas Civic Fund v. David Whitley, Texas Secretary of State, was brought last week by a group of civil rights organizations alleging discrimination on the basis of citizenship and color and seeks to have the court stop the citizenship reviews from happening.
Secretary of State David Whitley flagged about 95,000 people on county voting roles for citizenship review in January. Several U.S. citizens, including a student at the University of Texas at Tyler who also served as a deputy voter registrar during the 2018 election, have been confirmed to be on the list.
In Smith County, Nelson told the Tyler Morning Telegraph in January that there were 297 people on the list and her staff expected to send the letters out by the following Friday. Last week, Nelson said there were 239 people left on the list, and that 10 of them had come into the office to verify their citizenship.
The Smith County Commissioners Court is scheduled to hold an executive session about the case at the end of its regular meeting that starts at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Smith County Courthouse Annex building, 200 East Ferguson Street.
The court will “receive legal update and briefing regarding pending or potential litigation, including but not limited to” Move Texas Civic Fund v. David Whitley, Texas Secretary of State in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
A spokeswoman for the county said County Judge Nathaniel Moran would not comment on the issue because it is listed as an executive session item.
Smith County Commissioner Terry Phillips voiced support for the review in comments on the Tyler Morning Telegraph’s Facebook page on Friday.
In response to a post about the UT Tyler student who said she was burdened by the review, Philips wrote: “It looks like she would be happy knowing that the elections office is working to protect her vote making sure an illegal vote doesn’t counterfeit her legitimate vote.”
Phillips also wrote: “The bottom line is we all know that there is a lot of voter fraud going on so if you’re against voter fraud then you don’t have a problem with elections verifying legitimate voters no matter who it is including myself. But if you’re for voter fraud you have a problem with it.”
In a phone interview on Monday, he declined further comment citing the litigation.
A hearing is scheduled in the case on Feb. 22 at the federal courthouse in Galveston, according to court documents.
