Courtesy Photo / Texas Attorney General's Office
The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spent $2.3 million last year to pursue voter fraud but only prosecuted four cases.
The threat is the latest in a controversial series of moves the Republican AG has made in what his office calls an effort to uphold "election integrity."
Those actions include raids conducted last month on the homes of South Texas Democratic organizers. In their wake, Democratic lawmakers and a top Latinx advocacy group asked the U.S. Justice Department to look into the legality of Paxton's sweep.
In his letter addressed to the five members of the Bexar County Commissioners Court, Paxton said the county's mailed voting applications could end up in the hands of people ineligible to cast ballots, such as felons and undocumented immigrants. The packets might “encourage” such recipients to register in violation of state law, he argued.
"It is more important than ever that we maintain the integrity of our voter rolls and ensure only eligible voters decide our elections," Paxton wrote. "Your proposal does the opposite by indiscriminately inviting county residents to register to vote regardless of their eligibility. I urge you to abandon this proposal. If you do not, I will see you in court."
Paxton also sent a similar letter to officials in Houston's Harris County.
A spokesman for Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai had no comment Monday morning on Paxton's threat. However, the Commissioners Court is expected to discuss the plan at its Tuesday meeting its online agenda shows.
Under that proposal, the county would hire outside contractor Civic Government Solutions LLC to mail voter registration cards along with postage-paid return envelopes to residents not currently on the voting rolls. The contract is valued at $392,700.
Paxton, a vocal ally of former President Donald Trump has a history of making extravagant claims about voter fraud that echo Trump's rebuked lies about the 2020 election being "stolen."
Although Paxton's office spent $2.3 million last year to pursue a voter-fraud crackdown, it only prosecuted four cases, according to a recent Houston Chronicle investigation.
Despite that lack of success, Paxton recently stepped up investigations into alleged instances of ballot-box malfeasance in the runup to the November election.
That includes last month's South Texas raids, which Paxton's office said were part of an ongoing investigation into voter fraud in the state.
Separately, the AG last month launched a probe of an unsubstantiated claim made by a Fox News personality that unidentified individuals were illegally registering non-citizens to vote in North Texas. Top voting-rights groups called that action a waste of taxpayer money and an effort to intimidate voter-mobilization groups.
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