AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus is opposing a bid by the Texas secretary of state to use a federal database to check the state's voter rolls.
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer said Thursday that he was appalled the state would want to use a database of legal immigrants to check voter rolls after arguing before a federal judge that the state's database was incapable of performing such an analysis.
Fischer testified in the federal lawsuit last week where Texas is seeking permission to require a photo ID before voting. The Justice Department used state databases to show the law would discriminate against minorities, but Texas attorneys said the database analysis was unreliable.
On Wednesday, Texas requested the federal database to make sure non-citizen residents are not voting.
