Harris County Justice of the Peace Dolores Lozano, right, talks to County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth at a Labor Day event on September 5. Credit: April Towery
Dolores Lozano was elected in 2023 to serve Harris County as a justice of the peace, but when she recently checked her voter registration status late last month, she found that she was one of 1.2 million Texans on the “suspense list.”
Anyone can check their status online. Some revisions, such as address changes, can be updated immediately without re-registering.
Lozan hasn’t moved recently. In fact, she voted — for herself — in the March primary and had no problems. She’s not sure how or why her name got on the list but she wants to raise awareness about it to minimize confusion on Election Day.
“If it can happen to a sitting justice of the peace, it can happen to anyone,” Lozano told the Houston Press. “It’s also important to know that just because you’re on the suspense list doesn’t mean you can’t vote.”
Of the million-plus Texas voters on the suspense list, 200,000 are in Harris County. The Texas Secretary of State’s Office has said that typically voters get flagged when they’ve changed addresses or had a mail piece like a jury summons returned to sender.
“Sometimes it’s a clerical error, but it’s definitely fixable if you catch it in time,” Lozano said. She shares office space with the tax assessor and voter registrar, so she swiftly filled out a new voter registration form. Addresses can be updated online, and voter registration tables are often set up at political rallies and campaign events. The campaign headquarters for both political parties offer registration.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Annette Ramirez is hosting voter registration events at various locations including churches, college campuses, community centers and the Houston Food Bank throughout September.
Anthony Collier, elections director for the Harris County Democratic Party, encouraged voters to check their status before the October 5 registration deadline and confirm their address if needed.
“We don’t want to have any issues at the polls where we’re causing unnecessary delays or long lines, or so they don’t end up getting in a tit-for-tat with an untrained presiding judge at a polling location who could inadvertently turn them away,” he said. “We want to make sure that the Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted and there are no issues when they head to the polls.”
A voter registration table was displayed at an August meeting of the Black Richmond Rosenberg Area Democrats.
The suspense list was created in 1995 as a method for maintaining accurate voter rolls, the Associated Press reported last week. Registration certificates, which prove that someone has registered to vote, are automatically sent to voters every two years if they haven’t changed their address.
Collier acknowledged that the suspense list has been around for a long time but noted that people are suspicious of the federal government because “it has participated in voter suppression in the past.”
“Recently, Donald Trump issued an executive order dealing with mail-in ballots, so I think people are right to have a healthy skepticism of the Trump administration. However, the voter suspense list is not necessarily one of those ploys,” he said.
Trump’s executive order regarding mail ballots, which a federal judge in Boston ruled on September 4 was “likely unconstitutional and unlawful,” designated that the U.S. Postal Service must develop rules under which it would deliver mail-in and absentee ballots only for voters who appear on a pre-approved eligibility list.
“We have no faith in them providing an accurate list of voters, so that’s very concerning,” Collier said. “Which is why we need a Democratic attorney general who will sue the Trump administration to protect voters in Texas.”
Under state and federal law, voter registration cannot be canceled only because of a failure to vote. Voters are removed from the rolls after they’ve been sent a notice that their registration is subject to cancellation and two subsequent federal election cycles have passed without any response or voting activity.
At a Labor Day event in Crosby last weekend, organizers with the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO urged members to pledge to be a “day one voter,” meaning they plan to go to the polls on the first day of early voting, October 19.
County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth told the crowd at the American Legion Hall that she’s preparing for the November election “as if we’re going to see presidential turnout.” She said she’s not worried about Harris County being randomly selected for an audit this year.
“I want the Secretary of State here,” she said. “I invited him. We have nothing to hide. I want to show him that we know what we’re doing. I believe in accountability. We’re working hard to not only defend democracy in November but also make sure that the accountability is there for the state and federal government and everybody else.”
Hudspeth recently launched a Harris Votes smartphone application where voters can get push notifications to access election results, polling locations and sample ballots. More than 100 contests will be on the November ballot for Harris County voters, Hudspeth said, adding that it’s the longest ballot in Texas.
That’s another reason to check one’s voter registration before going to the polls, she said. “Pack your patience. We want you to make it all the way to the end of the ballot.”
Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin, Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez and County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth spoke to voters at a Women of Labor breakfast in Crosby on September 5.
Collier said that because Harris County is the largest in Texas, its elections carry huge weight and are often scrutinized when they don’t go the way of the party in power.
“We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst,” he said of the pending audit. “We have a robust voter protection program. We have poll watchers. We have voter protection attorneys. We have attorneys who are immediately ready to go to the court and file an injunction should the Trump administration or [Gov. Greg] Abbott regime try to suppress the vote or stop free and fair elections. We’re ready to fight them tooth and nail and we’re ready to win.”
Collier said he’s not worried about any major problems with Harris County elections as long as Hudspeth — who is facing GOP nominee Mike Wolfe in November — is in charge.
Lozano, however, wants to ensure that Harris County residents check that their voter registration is active, “and if it’s not, fix it.”
“Make it a dinner conversation with friends and family,” she said. “Everyone should verify their status. A lot of folks can look at that and think, oh I’m suspended from the rolls, and shy away from voting. I want this to be a teaching moment.”