After a video was shared online purporting to show Dallas County election workers using “illegal” methods to register people who are homeless, the elections department called the allegations “misinformation.”
A video recorded in a Dallas County elections department training was shared to X on Monday afternoon and later reposted by John Basham, a former City Council member in Reno, located in Parker County. Basham’s post, which had roughly 2.6 million views and 40,000 reposts by Tuesday night, said the Dallas County elections department was instructing election workers to “illegally lie” on registration forms and use a church address when registering people experiencing homelessness to vote.
In response, the Dallas County elections department issued a statement Tuesday that said the online statements are misrepresenting the discussion seen in the video.
“These claims falsely imply that legally protected voter registration practices are acts of voter fraud,” the statement read. “State law is very clear: having a home is not a requirement to be eligible to register to vote, and voters can use an address other than their residential address as a mailing address.”
“Dallas County Elections wants to make this very clear: U.S. Citizens eligible to vote under federal and state law will be allowed to register to vote, whether they are unhoused or not,” the statement said.
The statement said that “misinformation,” including allegations made by people sharing the video online, creates unnecessary confusion and undermines trust in the electoral system.
Heider Garcia, Dallas County elections administrator, said in the statement that eligibility requirements are clearly defined in state law.
“Our unhoused population in Dallas County, many of whom are veterans, deserve to be treated like every other voter who is allowed to use an alternate mailing address,” Garcia said.
The video, which is about 34 seconds long, shows a discussion during an election worker training that the post said was recorded on Aug. 24.
“So should we put the church address because they’re homeless?” Someone in the video can be heard asking.
“Where do lay their head at? Where do they sleep?” Someone responds.
“On the street. They sleep right outside the church,” the first person says.
“If they sleep in that area, put a description. That’s the residence address,” the second person responds. “You have to include a mailing address. If the church has a box that they’re going to share with them, a box is fine.”
Basham’s post also has a “community note” on it, which is a feature on X that allows other users to add contexts to posts. The community note on Basham’s post says that per Texas Election Code, applicants without an address are allowed to list a mailing address and concise description of their residence when registering to vote.
According to Section 13.002 of Texas Elections Code, prospective voters must include their residence address when registering to vote. If the applicant does not have a permanent address, they may include the address in which they receive mail and a description of their residence. According to TexasLawHelp.org, applicants with no permanent address can include the address where they most often sleep, which can be a homeless shelter, park or street corner.
The sharing of the video comes after Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state had removed more than a million names from voter registration rolls in the past three years. This included half a million people whose status was unclear, mainly due to not responding to address update notices or other questions from the state.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also sued the Bexar County Commissioners Court last week over the county’s plan to send voter registration forms to unregistered voters. Paxton said in a statement that the effort, which county officials said was an attempt to increase “abysmal” voter turnout, was “blatantly illegal” and invited voter fraud.