Democrat Judge Blocks Texas AG’s Effort to Stop County from Mailing Registration Forms to 210,000 Unregistered Voters — Ken Paxton Fires Back with Appeal
Democrat District Court Judge Antonia Arteaga struck down a legal attempt by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to halt Bexar County’s push to mail voter registration forms to over 200,000 unregistered voters.
The lawsuit, filed by Paxton on the heels of Bexar County’s September 3 decision, sought to prevent the county from working with Civic Government Solutions to distribute unsolicited voter registration forms.
Paxton contended that such an action was not only illegal but a blatant effort by Democrat-led counties to sway voter turnout in their favor by bypassing standard registration processes.
Despite the clear warning from Paxton’s office, Bexar County pushed forward with its plans, mailing out the registration forms before the courts could take up the matter.
On Monday, Judge Arteaga dismissed Paxton’s request for a temporary restraining order against Bexar County’s plan to send out approximately 210,000 voter registration forms.
Attorney General Paxton, not backing down, immediately filed an appeal and vowed to continue fighting the “brazen” attempt to “circumvent election law.”
In a fiery statement following the ruling, Paxton called out Bexar County officials for their “dirty tricks” and accused them of knowingly violating the law by fast-tracking the mass mailout before the issue could be legally addressed.
Read the press release below:
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a notice of appeal to continue an Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) lawsuit challenging a Bexar County program that unlawfully mailed thousands of unsolicited voter registration applications to unverified recipients.
On September 2, Attorney General Paxton warned the Bexar County Commissioners Court that its proposed plan to employ a third-party vendor to mail voter registration forms to individuals regardless of the eligibility of the recipients would violate the law. Nevertheless, Bexar County approved the program the next day over the objection of its own voter registrar. Attorney General Paxton immediately sued and the OAG attempted to schedule a hearing on a motion for a temporary restraining order with Bexar County attorneys. Bexar County claimed that it needed more time to prepare for litigation and agreed to a consolidated preliminary hearing on September 16.
However, on the Friday before the rescheduled hearing Bexar County filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit—in which they revealed that they had been acting in secret to expedite the mass mailouts. Because the unsolicited voter registration forms had already been distributed to residents regardless of the legality of the contract or the eligibility of the recipients, the judge dismissed the State’s motion as moot. The Office of the Attorney General is appealing this ruling and will continue seeking appropriate remedies.
“In a display of bad faith, Bexar County engaged in dirty tricks to avoid appropriate judicial review of a clearly unlawful program that invites voter fraud,” said Attorney General Paxton. “These actions demonstrate that Bexar County knew what they were doing was wrong, yet expedited the mailout of unsolicited registration forms before the issue could be argued in court. I will fight every step of the way to hold them accountable and uphold the integrity of our elections.”
To read the notice of appeal, click here.
Today, I filed a notice of appeal on the lawsuit challenging a Bexar County program that unlawfully mailed thousands of unsolicited voter registration applications to unverified recipients.
In a display of bad faith, Bexar County engaged in dirty tricks to avoid appropriate… https://t.co/NjVWQCJ3KD
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) September 17, 2024
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