This story was updated August 25th, 2024 at 3:00pm CST
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday that he issued warrants in three South Texas counties looking for voter fraud.
The warrants in Bexar, Atascosa and Frio counties came a week after news stories brought to light the amount of money the AG has spent on his voter integrity unit with little to show for the expense.
In a press release, Paxton said he is looking into vote harvesting going back to the 2022 election. The complaint was filed with Paxton’s office by Audrey Gossett Louis, a Republican district attorney for the 81st Judicial District.
The 81st District prosecutes cases in five counties including Atascosa and Frio. Louis is known as very conservative and has worked as an assistant district attorney in Bexar, Lubbock and other counties prior to her current elected post.
Last week the Houston Chronicle reported Paxton’s voter integrity unit spent $3.3 million, closing six cases in two years.
Now people in three counties are being investigated, surprising even local elections officials.
“We have not been notified of this today,” said Jackie Callanan, Bexar County elections chief, who heard about the warrants from the press. “It seems to be an ongoing investigation, and, as always, our office will be here to assist in any way we can if we’re asked,” she added.
Numerous studies of elections have found “vanishingly little” evidence of mass voter fraud.
“Ken Paxton’s office has invested enormous resources looking for fraud where it does not occur and has basically found nothing,” said Sean Morales Doyle, director of the voting rights program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Morales Doyle said voter fraud was serious but rare, and the Paxton’s efforts showed just how fruitless these investigations become. The Brennan Center sued Texas over S.B.1, a law that severely curtailed voter rights — eliminating drive-thru voting booths, empowering partisan poll watchers and limiting the assistance that non-native English speakers and others could receive at the polls.
Morales Doyle questioned the warrants and whether they were real threats to democracy.
“It’s hard to know if the crimes being investigated here are truly behavior that undermines democracy,” said Morales Doyle, “or just offenses manufactured by the Texas legislature to lend credence to Paxton’s claims that he’s rooting out fraud.”
Bexar County political consultant and former Bexar County Democrats leader Manuel Medina was among those whose home was raided last Tuesday as part of a voter fraud investigation.
Agents seized 65 cell phones along with 41 computers and other digital devices. Medina is currently the chair of Tejano Democrats, the largest Latino Democratic political organization in the state. The political operative ran a combative and failed campaign for San Antonio mayor in 2017.
Medina said the move was “politically motivated” because he is working on the campaign of House District 80 Democratic candidate Cecilia Castellano, whose opponent is endorsed by Paxton.
Meanwhile, the League of United Latin American Citizens said it would file a civil rights complaint in the wake of warrants being served. The nation’s oldest Latino civil rights group said the tactic is aimed at disenfranchising lawful voters, particularly within Hispanic communities.
“It is disgraceful and outrageous that the state of Texas, and its highest-ranking law enforcement officer, is once again using the power of his office to instill fear in the hearts of community members who volunteer their time to promote civic engagement,” wrote Gabriel Rosales, in a statement to press Friday.
LULAC announced it plans to hold a press conference Monday morning in San Antonio to address the Attorney General’s claims.
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