Hundreds of thousands of San Antonio-area residents may have received unsolicited voter registration applications this month after county leaders approved the mass mailings over the objections of Texas' Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
On September 2, Paxton Letter to Bexar County Very Democratic areas of Texas San Antonio has urged city officials to strongly reconsider sending out the applications. Paxton wrote in his letter that he was concerned that such unsolicited applications “may cause confusion” about residents' eligibility to vote and could encourage unscrupulous, ineligible residents to “provide false information” that would allow them to circumvent state and federal law and register to vote.
“Those who are eligible for the mailing — eligible individuals who are in Bexar County or who have recently moved to Bexar County — have received these forms and likely returned them already.”
“Either way, it would be illegal and if this proposal goes forward we will use every legal tool to block it,” Paxton warned.
Apparently the warning was ignored.
On Sept. 3, Bexar County Magistrate Court voted three in favor, one against and one in favor of sending out approximately 210,000 voter registration applications, with the Registrar of Voters casting the only “no” vote.
Woai The outlet suggested that only “eligible” residents of Bexar County would receive the applications, but did not say how such unregistered “eligible” voters were identified.
County officials did not mail out the applications themselves, instead paying Civic Government Solutions nearly $400,000 to do it on their behalf.
Civic Government Solutions describes itself as a “non-partisan company,” but the domain information associated with its website is: civicgs.comAccording to the report, it appears to link directly to Civitech. Texas Scorecard.the WebsiteCivitec boasts that it is a political outreach company “trusted by Democratic and progressive leaders.”
Paxton filed suit against Bexar County the next day, with his lawyers arguing in court that county officials lacked the authority to approve the mass mailing and did not consider competitive bids from organizations other than Civic Government Solutions.
During Monday's hearing, Bexar County Deputy District Criminal Attorney Robert Piatt said, “Those eligible for the mailing — those who are in Bexar County or who have recently moved to Bexar County — have received these forms and have likely already returned them.”
Judge Antonia Arteaga was apparently convinced by the defense's arguments and ruled that Paxton's lawsuit was moot because the application had already been sent.
“Our position from the beginning has been that the commissioners had the right to act, and we are very pleased with the judge's ruling today,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzalez said. CNN.
Gonzalez also suggested Bexar County was moving forward with the mailing because Paxton's attorneys did not attend a previous hearing on the matter.
A spokesperson for Paxton confirmed to Blaze News that the attorney general has already appealed Judge Arteaga's ruling.
“Bexar County played dirty in a display of bad faith to avoid proper judicial review of a clearly illegal program that led to voter fraud,” Paxton said in a statement. “These actions demonstrate that Bexar County knew what they were doing was wrong, yet rushed to mail out unsolicited registration forms before this issue could be argued in court. I will fight to the death every step of the way to hold them accountable.”
Paxton filed a similar lawsuit against Travis County, home to the state capital, Austin, and Harris County, home to Houston, which considered mass mailing voter registration applications but ultimately gave up on the idea.
In response to a request for comment from The Blaze News, Tracey Davis, vice president of marketing for Civic Government Solutions, denied that the company has any affiliation with any partisan groups and said the company is “concerned” about the controversy over mass mailings.
“At Civic Government Solutions, we are committed to ensuring every voter has the opportunity to register – it's a vital investment in the future of our state and nation. As a nonpartisan company, we are focused solely on identifying and assisting unregistered individuals. We don't use demographic, political or other criteria – we simply sort eligible records based on county and registration status,” Davis said.
In response to a question from Blaze News about a possible relationship between Civic Government Solutions and Civitec, Davis said, “CGS is a subsidiary of Civitec, but it has its own bylaws, operating procedures, etc.”
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