Texas Attorney General Appeals Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging Bexar County’s Unsolicited Voter Registration Form Mailout Program. Helotes Residents Report Receiving Unsolicited Voter Registration Letters from the Program.
*Editor’s Note: The header graphic associated with this article contains a photo of the unsolicited mail piece that is the topic of this article. The street address, USPS city name and zip code are correct. However, the person it was addressed to is a UTSA student who never lived at or is associated with that address. What’s more is the address contains an apartment number that is not and never has existed at this single-family detached residence in a long-standing Helotes subdivision.
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 allegedly mailed thousands of unsolicited voter registration applications to unverified recipients.
Bexar County residents, including Helotians, received unsolicited letters last month from the Bexar County Voter Registration Division from third-party contractor Civic Government Solutions, LLC (CGS).
County Commissioner Grant Moody, Pct. 3, voted against the contract agreeing with Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen who also expressed concerns about the program.
“This has significantly increased workload and distracted from other election preparations in the office, just as Jacque Callanen and I warned about in Court,” said Moody. “Meanwhile, although CGS promised tens of thousands of new voter registrations, the elections department has only received several hundred to date. This proves the wastefulness of this duplicative effort.”
Encouraging Bexar County residents to register to vote is valid as some estimate nearly ⅓ of eligible voters in the county are not registered; however, residents have expressed frustration that almost $400,000 of their tax dollars are being spent on a contract to mail unsolicited ballots. Sometimes, the eligible voter does not even reside at the address.
After calls from constituents, Moody’s office compiled a list of residents reporting unsolicited mail from the program. To report letters, email [email protected] with your legal name, address, telephone, and the name given on the unsolicited voter registration letter. Additionally, Moody’s office said they had been made aware of dozens of CGS complaints to the election office from already registered voters and non-voters who received these unsolicited applications.
“The integrity of our elections must be preserved, and my team is gathering information and actively monitoring this CGS application process,” said Moody.
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. Despite Paxton’s warning, the Bexar County Commissioners approved the program the next day.
During Commissioners Court on September 3, Moody moved to table the motion awarding the contract to CGS to print and mail State Voter Registration Forms, with postage-paid return envelopes to unregistered voters. Moody’s motion failed. As a result, Commissioners Rebeca Clay-Flores, Justin Rodriguez, and Judge Peter Sakai voted for the original motion to approve the contract. Commissioners Moody and Tommy Calvert voted against it.
As a result, 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 said 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. According to the OAG, the county revealed in the motion to dismiss that they had been acting in secret to expedite the mass mailouts. Because the unsolicited voter registration forms had already been distributed to residents, the judge dismissed the state’s motion as moot. The Office of the Attorney General is appealing this ruling.
“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.”
Unregistered Bexar County citizens with voting eligibility can register for the Fall 2024 election. See www.bexar.org/1702/Register-to-Vote. The deadline is October 7. To report a suspected election violation, contact the Texas Attorney General tip line at [email protected]