Texas attorney general sues county for trying to mail registration forms to unregistered voters

(CNN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday trying to stop one of the biggest counties in Texas from mailing voter registration forms to large swaths of unregistered voters.

On Tuesday, the county judge and commissioners in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, approved a contract with a vendor to mail the unsolicited forms to approximately 210,000 people, with the goal of registering about 75,000 voters.

Paxton, a Republican, had previously warned of legal action if Bexar County moved forward with its plan to work with the vendor, Civic Government Solutions. In the new complaint, Paxton argues that it’s illegal for county officials to arrange for unsolicited, mass mailing of voter registration forms.

“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,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the filing.

Paxton’s lawsuit is the latest step in a large-scale effort by Republican leaders in Texas against largely Democratic cities that are trying to make voting easier and more accessible. Paxton’s office also launched an election integrity unit in 2018 investigating allegations of voter fraud, but the unit has yielded few convictions.

Civic Government Solutions is run by a known progressive activist, Jeremy Smith, but Smith sought to reassure county leaders on Tuesday that his company is strictly nonpartisan, saying it’s in the company’s financial interest to register as many voters as possible on both sides of the aisle.

“I understand where people are coming from,” Smith said at the meeting, responding to questions about his background. “I have a personal view on who I would like to win the federal election. That is not to say that the contracts that we undertake with governments are in any way partisan.”

Commissioners and the county judge brought up concerns about Smith’s partisan ties, as well as Paxton’s legal threats multiple times at a meeting on Tuesday but ultimately decided to approve the contract, citing a need to make it easier for new residents in the county to sign up to vote.

The county judge, who is a Democrat, and two Democratic commissioners approved the contract. A third Democratic commissioner abstained from voting, and a fourth commissioner, the lone Republican, voted against it.

Several residents showed up to the meeting and voiced stark opposition to the initiative, alleging that the mostly Democratic body of commissioners was trying to register more Democrats and non-citizens.

Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, a Democrat, has led the effort to work with CGS and sharply pushed back on the accusations.

“From my perspective, this is about democracy with a lowercase ‘d’ and making sure that people have access,” he said. “I’m getting texts as recent as last week from people who say, look, we just moved into the county. We don’t understand the process.”

Reached for comment after the lawsuit was announced, county leaders indicated they still plan to move forward with the registration effort. In a statement, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said he and the commissioners sought their own legal opinion and feel the county still has the right to mail out registration forms.

“We are confident we can defend that position, if needed, in a court of law,” Sakai said in the statement. He added there are “robust safeguards” to vet all applicants and prevent any non-eligible residents from becoming registered voters, even if they receive a form in the mail.

“Bexar County’s nonpartisan effort to provide voter registration applications to targeted eligible citizens is within the authority of the County and consistent with State law,” he said.

This story has been updated with a statement from Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai.

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