Misleading: Texas suspended 1.2 million voters, so they cannot vote in the November election.

“Texas suspended 1.2 million voters, so they cannot vote in the November election.”

The facts: The number is real, the conclusion is wrong. About 1.2 million Texas voters, roughly 6.6 percent of more than 18 million registered voters, are on the state suspense list. Being on it does not mean a registration was suspended, canceled, or removed from the rolls. It is an address verification list, used since 1995, for voters whose county could not confirm a current address, usually after election mail came back undeliverable. Suspense voters can still cast a ballot by confirming their address at the polls with a statement of residence. Elsewhere these are simply called inactive voters. The Texas Secretary of State office says the current count is consistent with past cycles. Harris County accounts for about 300,000 of the total, and the deadline to update a registration online was October 5. The real risk is longer term: voters who never correct the record are removed after two election cycles, and researchers note purge programs carry high error rates and fall harder on Hispanic voters. If you are on the list, check your status at VoteTexas.gov and confirm your address. Do not skip voting over this.