Attorney General Ken Paxton Appeals Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging Bexar County’s Unsolicited Voter Registration Form Mailout Program
September 17, 2024 – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a notice of appeal to continue an Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) lawsuit challenging a Bexar County program that unlawfully mailed thousands of unsolicited voter registration applications to unverified recipients.
On September 2, Attorney General Paxton warned the Bexar County Commissioners Court that its proposed plan to employ a third-party vendor to mail voter registration forms to individuals regardless of the eligibility of the recipients would violate the law. Nevertheless, Bexar County approved the program the next day over the objection of its own voter registrar. Attorney General Paxton immediately sued and the OAG attempted to schedule a hearing on a motion for a temporary restraining order with Bexar County attorneys. Bexar County claimed that it needed more time to prepare for litigation and agreed to a consolidated preliminary hearing on September 16.
Bexar County assistant district attorney argued that those unregistered voters targeted by the county had already “received those forms, and perhaps have already returned them.”
However, on the Friday before the rescheduled hearing Bexar County filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit—in which they revealed that they had been acting in secret to expedite the mass mailouts. Because the unsolicited voter registration forms had already been distributed to residents regardless of the legality of the contract or the eligibility of the recipients, the judge dismissed the State’s motion as moot. The Office of the Attorney General is appealing this ruling and will continue seeking appropriate remedies.
“In a display of bad faith, Bexar County engaged in dirty tricks to avoid appropriate judicial review of a clearly unlawful program that invites voter fraud,” said Attorney General Paxton. “These actions demonstrate that Bexar County knew what they were doing was wrong, yet expedited the mailout of unsolicited registration forms before the issue could be argued in court. I will fight every step of the way to hold them accountable and uphold the integrity of our elections.”
Paxton’s suit was part of a broader Republican campaign against Democratic voter registration efforts as the Senate and presidential races begin to tightened. Critics point to the propagation false claims and conspiracy theories of a grand Democratic plot to steal the election with a wave of ballots cast by voters who are in the country illegally.
