Texas judge halts part of voter purge effort - KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo -

Texas judge halts part of voter purge effort

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — A state district judge in Austin has blocked part of Texas' efforts to purge dead voters from registration rolls which had resulted in thousands of people receiving letters telling them to confirm they are alive.

The Social Security Administration has flagged about 81,000 Texas voters who are potentially dead. A new state law requires voter rolls be checked against the agency's death master file.

Some can be confirmed with an exact match of name and social security number. Others have only partial matches. County election officials, most notably in Harris County, sent letters to voters on the partial match list warning they could be purged.

State District Judge Tim Sulak in Austin on Wednesday barred the state from ordering counties to send letters to people on the partial match list.