A vote by the Texas Senate has returned Attorney General Ken Paxton to office. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Texas Attorney General's Office

Bexar County Commissioners Court on Monday approved a plan to mail voter-registration applications to residents even though Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to sue if the county does so.

The court’s 3-1 vote — made with a single abstention — cleared the way to create a no-bid contract for tech firm Civic Government Solutions (CGS) to send applications and postage-paid return envelopes to people who are likely to be unregistered to vote in the county but are nonetheless eligible to cast ballots.

CGS, a startup, uses a priority database of state records to reach people such as college students, transferred military personnel and those without drivers licenses — all groups frequently overlooked when political parties and others do voter-registration outreach.

Although a July vote by the court to move forward on the contract drew little attention, Paxton — a Republican known for echoing former President Donald Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud — sent a letter Monday warning he would sue if commissioners offered a green light to the plan.

Tuesday’s three-hour meeting drew a slew of local Republican Party officials, who urged the majority-Democrat court to shut down the contract. Most of the speakers echoed Paxton’s claim that mailing applications would encourage non-citizens, felons and others ineligible to vote to illegally register.

“This is not a partisan issue from my perspective,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said before voting in favor of the contract. “This is about democracy with a lower-case ‘d’ and making sure people have access. I’m getting texts as recently as last week from people saying, ‘Look, we just moved into the county, we don’t understand the process [for registering to vote].'”

Under the county plan, CGS will mail out 210,000 applications in hopes of getting 75,000 new registrations. That total is likely to mean a 3-4% upswing in votes cast in the county, according to officials with the company.

However, during the meeting’s public-comment session, opponents of the plan argued that CGS CEO Jeremy Smith is actually Democrat activist who’s publicly proclaimed his interest in helping get out the vote for progressive candidates.

As evidence they pointed to Smith’s appearance on a political podcast where he voiced hope Democrats could sign up more registered voters ahead of the 2024 election.

“He’s told us all loud and clear what he plans to do,” Bexar County Republican Party Vice Chairman Kyle Sinclair said, adding that Smith has been “extremely partisan and deceptive in his intent.”

During questioning by commissioners, Smith said he was speaking as a private citizen when he voiced that opinion. He also added that safeguards are in place to ensure CGS’s work registering voters doesn’t tilt in favor of one party or the other.

Judge Peter Sakai asked Smith if he’d swear under oath that he’s not solely chasing votes by Democrats.

“Absolutely,” the CEO replied. “Even more than that, we’re a startup. We’re trying to expand and create more opportunities for civic engagement. It is in our interest to include more people — it’s in our financial interest and in our fiduciary duty to get as many people as possible. That includes everyone.”

Smith said his firm, which is would make $372,900 under the Bexar contract, has reached out to all 254 counties to offer its services and also has been in discussion with elections administrators in states such as Alabama, Oklahoma and Idaho.

During the meeting, Sakai also asked Larry Roberson, chief of the civil division of the Bexar County District Attorney’s office, if Paxton had legal grounds to sue the county. In his letter, the AG cited a legal case he said proved that state law prohibits counties from mailing voting applications. Roberson described the letter as “misleading at best,” adding that the case law Paxton cites related to sending unsolicited mail-in ballots to residents, not applications.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert, who abstained from the final vote, said he was uneasy about granting a no-bid contract, especially under threat of a state lawsuit. He and and Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody voted to table the proposition, but were shut down by the rest of the court.

During the meeting, Commissioner Rebecca Clay-Flores said she was frustrated with the amount of “false rhetoric” hurled around by Republican officials about the proposal. At one point, she admonished those who repeatedly tried to call out the plan as a “partisan” bid to harvest Democratic votes.

“So many of you have talked about making this partisan,” Clay-Flores said. “Ya’ll have made it partisan.”

Clay-Flores also scolded anti-plan speakers who referred to migrants as “illegal aliens,” a term many consider offensive. When her remark drew jeers from some in the audience, Sakai called for order.

“I’ll clear the room if I have to,” the judge said before the chamber quieted again.

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This article appears in Aug 21 – Sep 4, 2024.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...