‘Unlawful And Reckless’: Texas AG Sues To Stop Mass Voter Registration Mailer Program From Going Into Effect

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to stop a program that would send mass voter registration applications to residents.

Paxton sued the Bexar County Commissioners Court after it voted in favor of the program on Tuesday, according to a press release from his office. The Republican prosecutor argues that the registration applications would be sent to residents en masse regardless of whether they requested such forms — or even if they are eligible to vote, such as noncitizens or illegal migrants.

The program would hire a third-party vendor to print and distribute voter registration forms to unregistered residents in the county, according to Paxton’s office. The state’s top prosecutor argues that dissemination of these forms to unverified individuals could prompt ineligible residents, like noncitizens or felons, to attempt to register to vote.

Paxton additionally argued in his lawsuit that Texas counties have no statutory authority to print and distribute state voter registration applications, meaning the program is inherently unlawful.

The Texas attorney general previously sent a letter to the Bexar County Commissioners Court, threatening them with a lawsuit should they vote in favor of the mass voter registration mailings.

“Despite being warned against adopting this blatantly illegal program that would spend taxpayer dollars to mail registration applications to potentially ineligible voters, Bexar County has irresponsibly chosen to violate the law,” Paxton said in a statement.

“This program is completely unlawful and potentially invites election fraud,” he continued. “It is a crime to register to vote if you are ineligible,” he continued.