Texas AG Paxton sues Travis County for allegedly hiring third party for voter registration

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit against Travis County on Friday for allegedly hiring a third-party company for voter registration efforts in violation of state law.

Paxton argues that Travis County, home of Austin, hiring Civic Government Solutions to aid with voter registration that targets unregistered voters is beyond the authority of the municipality.

Also, Paxton claims the CEO of Civic Government Solutions has expressed “his interest in getting people to vote for progressive candidates,” The Hill reported.

“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 statement. “Programs like this invite fraud and reduce public trust in our elections. We will stop them and any other county considering such programs.”

Hector Nieto, a Travis County spokesman, told The Hill that the county was “proud of our outreach efforts” while remaining “steadfast in our responsibility to uphold the integrity of the voter registration process.”

“It is disappointing that any statewide elected official would prefer to sow distrust and discourage participation in the electoral process,” Nieto said.

Paxton sued Bexar County, home of San Antonio, on Wednesday after the Bexar County Commissioners Court voted to use Civic Government Solutions to mail out voter registration forms to residents, regardless of whether they asked for them.