Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has turned his scrutiny onto the democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, resulting in a Petition for Rulemaking sent directly to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). According to the Texas Attorney General's Office, Paxton's findings suggest that ActBlue may be a conduit for a substantial volume of suspicious campaign donations made through obscured identities and untraceable methods.
In an investigation initiated in December 2023, Paxton's team delved into the inner workings of ActBlue to ascertain whether the platform was in line with legal standards. Paxton's office revealed that following the investigation's onset, ActBlue had imposed requirements for donors using credit cards to provide "CVV" codes as of August 2024, a measure intended to bolster the security of transactions, as reported by the Texas Attorney General's Office. However, Paxton asserts these steps fall short of addressing the core issues, particularly the systematic use of false identities and the involvement of straw donations facilitated through methods that evade tracking.
"Our investigation into ActBlue has uncovered facts indicating that bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations. It is imperative that the FEC close off the avenues we have identified by which foreign contributions or contributions in excess of legal limits could be unlawfully funneled to political campaigns, bypassing campaign finance regulations and compromising our electoral system," stated Attorney General Paxton in a report hosted on the Texas Attorney General's website. He has called on the FEC to "immediately begin rulemaking to secure our elections from any criminal actors exploiting these vulnerabilities."
