By J.C. Bruce
Efforts by Republicans to disrupt the midterm election are ongoing, including these two outrageous attempts to suppress voting.
In Texas, Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed and previously impeached state attorney general, is running for the U.S. Senate and trailing in the polls against his opponent, Democrat James Talarico.
So, today, in an effort to disrupt the vote — a harbinger of potential court challenges to come — Paxton filed a lawsuit in Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, the state’s most diverse city.
This report from The New Republic:
Paxton’s lawsuit claims that a get-out-the-vote advertisement campaign from Harris County’s elections office essentially constitutes reverse racism because it encouraged Black and Latino voters (groups with historically lower access to elections) to vote.
“By specifically directing voting advertisements to these and many other racial or ethnic ‘detailed targeting’ terms, it is readily apparent that Harris County is attempting to increase the likelihood that only certain racial and ethnic groups—but not all—will vote,” the lawsuit reads. “In any event, there can be no legitimate reason for Harris County to intentionally target voter advertisements toward this peculiar assortment of African American, Asian, and Latino ethnicities, cultural interests, and countries, but not toward any European ethnicities.”
Harris County has already stopped running the ads, and Paxton has recused himself from this lawsuit, even though he is, of course, Texas’s current attorney general.
Democrats are pushing back, of course. Said Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Christian D. Menefee:
“Ken Paxton filed this lawsuit in the final days of voting because he wants to stop Houstonians from going to the polls. He’s whining about ads that do nothing more than tell neighbors when to vote and where to get information about voting. Paxton is upset that diverse voters across Harris County are making their voices heard. He doesn’t like that in this election, people are showing up in big numbers ....
“Remember this: Someone with as much power as the Texas Attorney General would only take desperate action like this lawsuit because he is scared. I hope everyone in Harris County who is eligible to vote sees this lawsuit for what it is, and goes to cast their ballot in this election.”
And that’s the right reaction: How do you respond to bullies? You push back.
Pushing back will also be required in California, where the Trump administration is attempting to disenfranchise about 20,000 voters it thinks could possibly, just maybe, be ineligible.
As reported in this morning's newsletter, a federal judge has already rejected a temporary restraining order that would have interfered with these voters’ ballots.
Now, Department of Justice lawyers have issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials. Some employees at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office received grand jury subpoenas demanding their testimony on Nov. 4, the day after the election.
Earlier this month, ABC News reported that the DOJ threatened to criminally prosecute election workers who knowingly tabulate ballots belonging to noncitizen voters. In a letter to Los Angeles officials, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote that “noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime -- and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful.”
This is also, quite obviously, an attempt to intimidate election workers and frighten voters.
“At every step, the U.S. Department of Justice has taken a confrontational, adversarial approach. Election officials are acting in accordance with state and federal law,” Dean Logan, the L.A. County registrar-recorder/county clerk, said. “Clear court rulings at both the U.S. District Court level and the Court of Appeals have confirmed that. Threats and intimidation have no place in elections.”
But here they are, anyway.
What better way to say "we don't want fair elections" than the activities of the GOP JC is discussing.
It’s a wonder we’ve made it this far with all the elections from the past. Apparently they’ve all been tainted? They need to just STFU. I’m telling you projection is the problem. One who says there’s a problem is usually doing that problem. IE Trump.