Still the only voter ID anyone should need
A federal court on Thursday returned a lawsuit to state court that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had filed against Travis County over an effort to register voters before the November election.
The federal court found that it did not have jurisdiction over the issue, as Travis County officials had argued, and it granted Paxton’s request that the lawsuit be returned to state court.
The decision is the latest development in a bitter pre-election brawl between Republican state officials and Democratic county leaders. Republican leaders have maintained that they are trying to keep the state’s voter rolls secure ahead of a charged election, while Democrats, county officials and nonprofit groups have accused them of stoking baseless fears to suppress Democratic votes and to cast doubt on the election results.
Here’s what you need to know.
The background: In a bid to boost voter registrations, Travis County commissioners hired Civic Government Solutions in August to identify eligible voters living in the county who were not registered to vote. Travis County, a Democratic stronghold, includes Austin.
Paxton sued Travis County officials on Sept. 5, arguing that the effort violated state law and claiming that it would register non-citizens who are ineligible to vote. He sought an emergency order to block the effort. The Travis County Court denied his request on Sept. 16.
The next day, Travis County officials moved the suit to federal court, arguing that the voter outreach program was protected by the federal National Voter Registration Act, and that Paxton’s attempt to stop it was a violation of that law. County officials also sued Paxton for the same reason in a separate lawsuit in federal court.
Thursday’s decision said that the National Voter Registration Act was meant to be applied in tandem with state law, and that Travis County officials failed to show that the issue fell under the federal court’s jurisdiction.
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In a separate, federal lawsuit filed on Sept. 17, Travis County officials accused Paxton and Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson of violating the federal Voting Rights Act by trying to prevent them from carrying out their duty to promote people’s right to vote. They accused Nelson of doing nothing to stop Paxton’s alleged conduct, and they argued that federal law not only allows them to send out the voter registration applications, but encourages them to do so.
See here and here for the background. As we know, Paxton had filed a similar lawsuit against Bexar County but lost on an own goal when his office took so long filing the paperwork that Bexar County had already gone ahead with the registration forms by then, thus mooting the lawsuit. We’re past the voting registration deadline, so I’m not sure what is actually at stake here. I didn’t see any other stories in a Google news search, so this is all I know. Any lawyers who’d care to comment on that, I welcome your input.
Courts, particularly Federal courts, will try to avoid ruling on the merits of a case if there is a procedural way to side step it. It’s based on the idea that unless a merits ruling actually affects some right, person, or thing it’s purely advisory. The key words I see here are “the National Voter Registration Act was meant to be applied in tandem with state law, and that Travis County officials failed to show that the issue fell under the federal court’s jurisdiction.” So it goes back to the state district court, which I expect will now dismiss the case as moot because the voter registration deadline is past. Since there is no decision on the merits, there is nothing that might be binding on a future case that could be more fully developed.
Thanks. Still Indicted KP got himself some PR that his fellow travellers will glom on to.