Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Bexar County Commissioners Court on Wednesday, saying plans to mass mail registration cards violates the law and invites...
In this May 1, 2018, file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Austin. almost $400,000 to Civic Government Solutions to print and mail voter registration forms with postage-paid return envelopes to adults who aren’t registered to vote. The vote was 3-1, with one member abstaining.Paxton is asking a state district judge in San Antonio to prevent the mass mailing, arguing the effort violates the law and “potentially invites election fraud.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said during Tuesday’s meeting that the registration effort is an attempt to improve “abysmal” voter turnout since the last presidential election.“It just makes common sense to me that voter registration, voter turnout have to go hand in hand,” Sakai said. “If you don’t have registered voters, then you ain’t got voters.”
Paxton’s lawsuit argues that Texas’ election law doesn’t empower any voter registrar or county official “to arrange for the mass mailing of voter registration forms unsolicited.” It also says the law “prohibits performance-based compensation for registering voters” while noting the commissioners court appears to have “premised the contract price on the number of voters contacted and/or registered.
The filing also says the mass mailing program would send the wrong message to ineligible voters, resulting in applications from people who can’t legally vote.“A governmental entity sending voter registration applications may cause recipients who are ineligible to vote to believe they may register,” the lawsuit says. “At best, applications sent to these individuals will simply go unused. More likely, these excess applications will become ripe material for voter fraud.
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