Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking legal action against Bexar County, contesting their decision to send voter registration applications on a mass scale. According to the complaint, the contested effort could lead to crime, as individuals like felons or noncitizens might erroneously attempt to register to vote. Paxton's stance is that counties in Texas do not hold the legal authority to mail out state voter registration forms, which paints the county's actions as illicit. In a lawsuit filed earlier this week, Paxton seeks an injunction to stop this initiative from moving forward, as mentioned by the Texas Attorney General's office.
Despite objections from the state’s chief legal officer, the Bexar County Commissioners Court had voted on September 3 to engage a third-party vendor, to be funded by taxpayers, to print and distribute voter registration forms to unregistered county residents. This approach, however, has been met with stark criticism, particularly from Paxton, who believes that this could possibly invite individuals not qualified to vote to mistakenly try to do so. The proposed program's legality came under immediate scrutiny following the vote, leading to the swift legal challenge from the Attorney General's office.
"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 statement accompanied his move to sue the county, as gleaned from a release on the Texas Attorney General's website.
