Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton co-signed a letter with 16 state attorneys general on Monday asking the federal government to provide registered voters’ citizenship status. 

Paxton joined the letter sent to Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Paxton said in a press release that his office is requesting Mayorkas verify citizenship information for 450,000 registered voters in Texas who do not own a driver’s license or identification card. 

Paxton said the Biden-Harris administration failed to provide states access to databases necessary to ensure “the accuracy” of the voter rolls. 

Paxton sent the letter a week before early voting begins in Texas. The joint letter said the department is required to aid and protect the privilege of voting. The attorneys general said the department has provided “delayed and inadequate responses” to requests submitted by several state attorneys general. 

The letter follows Paxton asking Jane Nelson, the Texas Secretary of State, to request voters’ citizenship status from the federal government on Sept. 18. 

“My office has identified information maintained by the Secretary of State that will facilitate our efforts to prevent non-U.S. citizens from casting illegal votes in Texas elections and to investigate potential voter fraud,” Paxton said in an Oct. 2 letter to Nelson. 

Paxton said in a press release that Nelson’s office had not sent the list of “potential noncitizen voters” to the federal government. He asked Nelson to provide the state attorney general’s office with a list of registered voters who do not own a Texas driver’s license or identification card. 

“Texans cannot afford to lose another second waiting for their vote and their voice to be protected from illegal ballots,” Paxton said in a press release.