AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Travis County on Friday, alleging a voter outreach effort approved by county commissioners is an "unlawful appropriation of taxpayer money."
At issue is an agreement with Civic Government Solutions, which was approved by the Travis County Commissioners Court on August 27.
“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.”
The lawsuit names Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant, County Judge Andy Brown, and the four members of the Commissioners' Court as defendants.
According to the AG's office, CGS "is a subsidiary of a known partisan organization and was contracted to provide services that Travis County is not authorized by Texas law to perform."
Paxton's suit against Travis County mirrors a similar lawsuit filed against Bexar County on Wednesday, after it approved an agreement with CGS to send voter registration applications and postage-paid return envelopes to over 210,000 residents identified as unregistered and eligible to vote.
According to backup materials provided to Bexar County commissioners ahead of their vote last week, CGS says it had a greater than 20% registration rate with its mailer programs for the 2020 election cycle, with 85% of those who registered turning out to vote.
“Travis County is committed to encouraging voter participation and we are proud of our outreach efforts that achieve higher voter registration numbers,” said spokesman Hector Nieto. “We remain steadfast in our responsibility to uphold the integrity of the voter registration process while ensuring that every eligible person has the opportunity to exercise their right to vote. It is disappointing that any statewide elected official would prefer to sow distrust and discourage participation in the electoral process.”
