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Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Bexar County over its decision to mail out voter registration forms to potentially ineligible voters.
On Tuesday, the Bexar County Commissioners Court voted in favor of a new program that would hire a third-party vendor with taxpayer funds to print and distribute voter registration forms to unregistered individuals in the county. 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. Further, Texas counties have no statutory authority to print and mail state voter registration forms, making the proposal fundamentally illegal.
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.”
The Attorney General threatened Harris County over a similar program, but that proposal has been tabled.