Amid rising concerns over the integrity of political fundraising, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has made a notable move in referring a case of alleged illegal donations to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The referral follows an investigation into ActBlue, a major online fundraising platform for Democratic campaigns and progressive causes, which Paxton's office began examining back in December 2023.
The inquiry highlighted potential vulnerabilities on ActBlue’s website, where suspicious contributors appeared to be using false identities to make straw donations—a practice that involves donating in someone else's name to evade contribution limits and disclosure rules. Despite ActBlue's recent implementation of CVV codes for credit card donations as a security measure, the Attorney General's team has determined that these enhancements do not fully address the abuses potentially occurring on the platform. According to a statement from the Texas Attorney General's office, "My investigation uncovered evidence showing that bad actors are likely using ActBlue’s platform to make illegal campaign contributions," said Paxton.
On Monday, Paxton took his concerns further by submitting a petition for rulemaking to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), advocating for regulatory changes that could shut down the loopholes currently being exploited. In a previous FEC deliberation on rules to curb straw donation tactics, ActBlue was among the opponents to such regulations. This opposition is now under scrutiny in light of Paxton's findings.
In his communication with the DOJ, Paxton highlighted the illegality of election fraud and the obfuscation of donor identities, emphasizing the urgency of addressing these electoral violations. "It is illegal to engage in election fraud and it is illegal to obscure one’s identity to flout election rules. The Department of Justice must take immediate action to prevent illegal conduct in our elections," Paxton stated in the press release.
