A state district judge in Texas dismissed a request by Attorney General Ken Paxton to block a Bexar County plan to mail voter registration forms to country residents prior to the November elections, the Texas Tribune reported on Monday.
On Sept. 4, Paxton sued Bexar County officials arguing that the county did not have the authority to send out unrequested registration applications and that county officials further violated state law by awarding a $393,000 contract to Civic Government Solutions without going through a competitive bidding process. Forms were mailed to approximately 210,000 people with the goal of registering 75,000. Republicans have expressed concerns that such practices open the voting process up to fraud, particularly as regards non-citizen voting.
Bexar County attorneys argued in Monday's hearing that there was no reason for the injunction because the forms were mailed last week. Judge Antonia Arteaga ruled the request "moot."
"The target of the mailing, qualified individuals who recently moved to or within Bexar County, have received those forms, and perhaps have already returned them," said Bexar County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Robert W. Piatt III.
Following Judge Arteaga's ruling, Ryan Kercher, deputy chief of the special litigation division in the attorney general's office, said the move would result in ineligible people registering to vote. Paxton's office appealed the decision after the ruling arguing Bexar officials "expedited" the mailout to ensure it happened prior to the scheduled hearing.
"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," the attorney general said in a statement.
"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."
Bexar County is the fourth largest county in the state of Texas and includes San Antonio.