Republican Attorney General in Texas sues Democrats over voter registration efforts

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton has sued two of the state’s largest counties to block voter registration ahead of the November general election, prompting state Democrats to accuse them of voter suppression.

Paxton announced a lawsuit Friday to prevent Travis County, which includes the state capital of Austin, from using taxpayer money to hire a third-party vendor to identify and contact eligible but unregistered voters to try to register them before the Oct. 7 deadline.

A lawsuit followed Earlier this week against Bexar Countywhich includes San Antonio; that county hired the same company to conduct a similar registration drive. Paxton has also threatened legal action against Harris County in Houston if it conducts a similar voter registration drive.

Paxton’s lawsuits are the latest round in an ongoing battle between Texas Republicans, who have long dominated state government and insist they are taking action to strengthen election integrity, and Democrats, who have strongholds in Texas’ largest metropolitan areas and complain that Republican-led efforts amount to voter suppression, particularly of Latinos.

In the lawsuits, Paxton claimed the contracts went to a partisan vendor and argued they exceeded the local government’s legal authority. Paxton said Texas law does not specifically allow counties to send out unsolicited registration forms.

“The program will create confusion, potentially facilitate fraud and undermine public confidence in the electoral process,” Paxton said Friday.

Paxton had warned Bexar County officials that he would sue if they went ahead with the project. But the county commission voted Tuesday night to award the nearly $400,000 contract to Civic Government Solutions, the same organization that hired Travis County. Paxton filed the lawsuit against Bexar County the next day.

Tracy Davis, vice president of marketing at Civic Government Solutions, said the organization is nonpartisan.

“Our focus is solely on identifying and assisting unregistered individuals. We do not use demographic, political or any other criteria,” Davis said. “As someone deeply committed to civic engagement, I find it troubling that an initiative to empower Texans and democratic participation is met with such aggressive resistance.”

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat from Austin, accused Paxton of trying to suppress Latino votes ahead of the general election in November.

“I applaud the Bexar County Commissioners for not giving in to his threats and proceeding as planned,” Doggett said. “Paxton is so afraid that more Latinos, who make up the largest share of the Texas population, will vote than ever before.”

Last month, the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino voting rights group, called for a federal investigation After volunteers said Texas authorities searched their homes and confiscated phones and computers as part of an investigation by Paxton’s office into allegations of election fraud.

No charges have been filed against the people whose homes were raided in the San Antonio area this month. The victims of the raids, including an 87-year-old campaign worker, and their supporters say they did nothing wrong and have called the raids an attempt to suppress Latino voters.

Paxton said little other than confirming that agents executed search warrants.