Travis County sues Paxton over voter registration efforts

Travis County is fighting back. That’s the message that County Judge Andy Brown, County Attorney Delia Garza, County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant and County Commissioner Jeff Travillion delivered at a press conference on Tuesday. They denounced Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for attempting to prevent Travis County from hiring a firm to help register citizens who are eligible to vote. Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day.

Paxton sued Travis County on Sept. 6 for hiring a firm to find Travis County citizens who are eligible but not registered to vote. Paxton claimed in a news release that the company hired by Travis County was “partisan” and that the county’s efforts to identify unregistered potential voters were therefore unlawful.

Now Garza has filed a federal lawsuit against Paxton on behalf of all members of the Travis County Commissioners Court and Elfant. In addition, she filed a motion to remove Paxton’s lawsuit from Travis County to the federal court. That way, one judge will oversee both proceedings. In addition, any appeal will go through the federal appeals court and not state court.

“Defendant Attorney General Ken Paxton does not want at least some eligible Texans to register to vote,” the new suit against Paxton says. “To facilitate that goal, he has engaged in a campaign, using the power of his office to act on behalf of the State to selectively sue, threaten, and harass County officials – including Plaintiffs – as well as nonprofit organizations across Texas, seeking to prevent them from facilitating voter registration and participation. Likewise, he has engaged in a public campaign to dissuade eligible Texans” from registering to vote.

Garza declared, “The Texas Attorney General thinks he is above the law. If Ken Paxton won’t fight for you … Travis County will fight for you.” She pointed out that state law has provisions for reimbursing local governments for voter registration mailings. In addition, she said Texas must comply with the National Voter Registration Act, and Paxton’s efforts to prevent new registrations are illegal.

Travillion noted that his father grew up in Mississippi, got a college degree and served in the military. Yet when he returned to his home state in 1959, he was still denied the right to vote. And Travillion reminded those watching that three young people were murdered in Mississippi in 1964 because they were registering people to vote.

The last day to register to vote to be eligible to vote in the Nov. 5 election in Texas is Oct. 7.

Brown said, “Registering people to vote and engaging in our democratic process is a cornerstone of our democracy and should not be a partisan issue. In fact, in 1993, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act, which along with the Voting Rights Act and the help America Vote Act stand as a pillar of our democracy and facilitates open and free elections.”

In addition to the suit against Travis County officials, Paxton filed a similar suit against Bexar County commissioners, who hired the same firm, Civic Government Solutions. Brown said Civic Government Solutions was the only bidder on the contract. The cost to the county was estimated at about $3,600 per 10,000 names.

A judge in Bexar County dismissed that lawsuit because the contractor hired by the county had already sent out voter registration forms by the time the matter got to court. Paxton announced on Monday that he had appealed that ruling to the new Texas 15th Court of Appeals.

Elfant, who has been in charge of voter registration in Travis County since he was first elected in 2012, told reporters, “Instead of working to increase participation in our elections, our state leaders are focusing on telling us election officials what we can’t do. So now, the Texas attorney general is telling election officials through his lawsuits that we cannot even reach out to eligible, but unregistered, voters in accordance with state and federal law.”

Paxton also warned Harris County not to try hiring any firm to find more voters. Harris County has not done so.

Garza said Paxton “thinks he is above the law. Texans can no longer live in this alternate reality. … Here in Texas, we still value the things that are foundational to us. Things like voting. … Making sure that people have a voice in their government.”

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