Texas AG Sues Second County Using Taxpayer Funds To Pay Voter Registration Firm Run By Progressive Activist

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Friday to stop a county from using taxpayer dollars to pay a voter registration firm aligned with progressives to identify unregistered voters.

Travis County is allegedly illegally paying taxpayer dollars to Civic Government Solutions (CGS), a voter registration firm, to create a list of unregistered voters for the county, according to the lawsuit. Travis County, home of Austin, Texas, is solidly blue, and CGS CEO Jeremy Smith has made statements in the past that encourage people to vote for progressive candidates.

“Travis County has blatantly violated Texas law by paying partisan actors to conduct unlawful identification efforts to track down people who are not registered to vote,” Paxton said in a press release. “Programs like this invite fraud and reduce public trust in our elections. We will stop them and any other county considering such programs.”

The Travis County Commissioners Court approved the use of the firm on Aug. 27, with the contract extending to 2025, according to county documents. CGS has sent over 10 million mailers since 2018 and has registered 2 million voters, according to the lawsuit.

Smith is also the CEO of Civitech, which describes itself as a “progressive data startup,”