Still the only voter ID anyone should need
Travis County officials sued Attorney General Ken Paxton and Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Tuesday over the state’s attempt to block attempts to sign up more voters ahead of a hotly contested presidential election.
The new federal lawsuit escalates a pre-election war between Republican state officials and Democratic urban county leaders over voter registration efforts and accuses Texas officials of violating the National Voter Registration Act. Developments in the ongoing battle continue unfolding as the Oct. 7 deadline to sign up to vote looms.
“Today, Travis County, once again, fights back,” Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said during a press conference Tuesday.
[…]
Garza said the new legal filings transfers Paxton’s state lawsuit to federal court. Travis officials are asking the federal court to allow them to continue sending out voter registration applications. The filing came one day after a judge denied Paxton’s request to block Bexar County, home to San Antonio, from mailing out voter registration applications to its residents. The court found no reason to grant the request since the county had already mailed out the forms. Bexar County is also strongly Democratic.
Travis officials allege Paxton violated Title 52 of the Voting Rights Act by trying to prevent them from carrying out their duties to promote people’s right to vote. They accuse Nelson of doing nothing to stop Paxton’s alleged unlawful conduct. They argue that the state law not only allows them to send out the applications, but also encourages them to do so.
Garza pointed out that a state law provision states that local governments can be reimbursed for mailing out voter registration applications to its residents.
See here for more on the Paxton lawsuit against Travis County, and here for more on what happened in Bexar County. I’m always happy to see someone take the fight to Ken Paxton, but I’m also always nervous about any voting rights litigation in the federal courts, for all the obvious reasons. I have no reason not to trust the Travis County folks – they know better than I do what they’re doing and I’m sure they understand the risks involved – bit I’m still nervous. I will of course keep an eye on this. The Statesman has more.
I hope the Democrats (and Democrat judges) can play the same delay game that the GOP plays.