The Secretary of State is asking county election departments to look into the citizenship of registered voters.

The Cameron County Elections Department is busy. Early voting is underway, and now department staff are tasked with digging through their voter rolls.

"This is an extra step that we're having to dedicate staff to do, so that we can promptly issue notices if they're required," Cameron County Elections Department Administrator Remi Garza said.

The elections department is issuing notices to more than five dozen registered voters. The task is by order of the Texas Secretary of State.

RELATED COVERAGE: Texas election officials investigating more than 200 potential noncitizens registered to vote in the Valley

"We've received these types of requests in the past, but they've been more individualized. This is the first time in many years that we've received a bulk listing of names," Garza said.

Garza says he received a list of 68 people the state flagged as "potential noncitizens" who are registered to vote.

The state used a federal database known as the Save Database to compile their list. It's used to verify immigration status and us citizenship.

"Our initial steps are going to be to pull the registration records of these individuals and if we can find any corresponding documentation that they have identified themselves as citizens, either through a naturalization certification or a passport that was presented to us, then we will not issue a notice to them," Garza said.

People who receive a notice have 30 days to respond with proof of citizenship. If they don't respond, the elections department will label them as ineligible to vote.

Their eligibility can be reinstated if they present proof of citizenship at a later date.

Garza says receiving a letter doesn't mean that the county is alleging that you aren't a citizen. It could just mean there is conflicting information on record.

"This kind of generalized approach is very concerning," University of Houston Law Center Assistant Professor David Froomkin said.

Froomkin says information databases in general are unreliable.

"Political scientist have found that there's a high error rate on relying on these databases for a number of reasons, including measurement error, errors in the database itself, but also errors in the matching of names in the database," Froomkin said.

He says people with the same name could be flagged as discrepancies.

The Secretary of State says they found 236 potential noncitizens in the Rio Grande Valley. Hidalgo County had the highest.

In a statement, the Hidalgo County elections administrator says her department is also sending notices to people identified on their list.

For Garza, his office is busy checking the eligibility of voters

"That's what we're doing right now. We are not just turning around and issuing notices to all 68 of these people. We want to do some investigation on our part, because it's my responsibility to maintain the roles for Cameron County," Garza said.

The Cameron County Elections Department plans to be done with the verification process by the end of the week.

If they can't get that verification, voter roll removal letters will be sent out by next week.

Channel 5 News has reached out to Starr and Willacy County Elections Department for comment, but have not received a response.

The Secretary of State says if people who are identified as noncitizens are found to have voted, their information will be referred to the attorney general's office.

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