Texas AG Sues Bexar County Over Program to Mail Registration Forms to Unregistered Voters

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 5, 2022. Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Sept. 4 against the Bexar County Commissioners Court, accusing it of enacting an illegal voter registration program that would mail voter registration forms to unregistered residents, including those who are not eligible to vote.

The attorney general is seeking an emergency injunction to prevent the program from taking effect.

The suit was filed one day after officials in Bexar County—the fourth-most populous county in Texas and home to more than 2 million residents—moved forward with the plan.

The county’s Commissioners Court voted 3–1 during a Sept. 3 meeting to approve a $393,000 outreach contract with Civic Government Solutions, which will print and distribute voter registration forms—with postage-paid return envelopes—to unregistered voters, and collect data generated by the effort.

At the time of the vote, the Commissioners Court said the plan will help bolster access to voter registration forms in the county, which is home to San Antonio.

According to a resolution passed by the Bexar County Commissioners Court, a third-party organization, Civic Government Solutions, will print and mail voter registration forms to unregistered voters “in location(s) based on targeting agreed to by the county.”

The forms would be mailed to about 200,000 people with the aim of registering about 75,000 voters.

Before filing the lawsuit against Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacquelyn Callanen, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, and all four Bexar County commissioners, Paxton warned Bexar County officials in a letter that he would pursue legal action if the county chose to work with the third-party vendor.

“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 announcing the lawsuit. “This program is completely unlawful and potentially invites election fraud. It is a crime to register to vote if you are ineligible.”

To be eligible to vote in Texas, a person must be a citizen of the United States, be 18 years or older on Election Day, and be a resident of the county where the voter application is submitted, according to state law.

A person must also “not be finally convicted of a felony or, if so, have completed the terms of the jail sentence, probation or parole.” People declared by a court to be either totally mentally incapacitated or partially mentally incapacitated are also prohibited from voting.

In his lawsuit, Paxton said he feared the plan could cause ineligible voters to submit applications and be incorrectly approved to vote. It could also induce ineligible people—such as felons and noncitizens—to commit a crime by attempting to register to vote, Paxton said.

Proposal Fundamentally Illegal: Paxton

In the letter, Paxton argued that Texas counties have no statutory authority to print and mail state voter registration forms, making the proposal “fundamentally illegal.”

He pointed to his office’s successful effort in 2020 to block Harris County, home of Houston, from sending unsolicited applications for mail-in ballots to every registered voter in that county.

“The Election Code does not empower the voter registrar or any other county official to arrange for the mass mailing of voter registration forms unsolicited,” the lawsuit states. “To the contrary, the Election Code provides, officials ’shall furnish forms in a reasonable quantity to a person requesting them for the purpose of submitting or filing the document or paper.'”

Elsewhere in the lawsuit, Paxton argued that Bexar County officials erred by awarding the contract while bypassing a competitive bidding process.

A voter (R) shows his identification to a Harris County election clerk (L) before voting in Houston on July 14, 2020. David J. Phillip/AP Photo

“Defendants’ actions will create confusion, facilitate fraud, undermine confidence in elections, and are illegal ultra vires acts because they exceed statutory authority,” according to the lawsuit.

Civic Government Solutions is run by Jeremy Smith. Its website describes him as “a political leader who has experience across dozens of campaigns ranging from local to presidential.”

In 2016, Smith helped manage voter registration and voter assistance in Florida for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, where he served as a deputy director of voter protection for the state, the website states.

He has also worked to provide operational guidance and planning for several voter protection initiatives.

During the Bexar County Commissioners Court’s Sept. 3 meeting, Smith said the company is seeking voter registration from a purely neutral standpoint and that registering as many voters as possible who have a high “mobility rate” is the overall goal.

“I understand where people are coming from,” Smith said at the meeting, in response to concerns over the plan being a possible “partisan effort.”

“I have a personal view on who I would like to win the federal election,” he said. “That is not to say that the contracts that we undertake with governments are in any way partisan.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Bexar County Commissioners Court and a spokesperson for Civic Government Solutions for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.