Texas AG Paxton Sues Bexar County Over Unlawful Decision to Send Voter Registration Applications to Potentially Ineligible Voters

Texas

Bexar County has moved forward with a plan to mail voter registration forms to its residents, despite warnings from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that such actions would violate state law. Yesterday, Bexar County Commissioners Court voted to approve a program to send voter registration forms to unregistered county residents using a 3rd party vendor costing constituents $400,000 to mail 200 thousand voter registrations. This decision was made despite Attorney General Ken Paxton's threats of legal action, indicating a direct defiance of his warnings.

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Bexar County Commissioners Court after it voted to enact an unlawful program that would mass-mail voter registration applications to residents regardless of whether those residents have requested such an application or are even eligible to vote. 

The distribution of forms to unverified recipients could induce ineligible people—such as felons and noncitizens—to commit a crime by attempting to register to vote. There have been reports that the SOS purportedly only checks 5-10% of the applicant’s eligibility. Furthermore, Texas counties do not have the statutory authority to print and mail voter registration forms without specific legal backing.

Attorney General Paxton previously sent a letter to the Bexar County Commissioners Court warning that he would sue if the county attempted to institute the unlawful program. Now that the commissioners have approved the illegal program, Attorney General Paxton filed a lawsuit asking for an injunction to prevent the program from taking effect. 

“Despite being warned against adopting this blatantly illegal program that would spend taxpayer dollars to mail registration applications to potentially ineligible voters, Bexar County has irresponsibly chosen to violate the law,” said Attorney General Paxton. “This program is completely unlawful and potentially invites election fraud. It is a crime to register to vote if you are ineligible.”

To read the filing, click here.