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Bexar County lacks the authority to send out unsolicited
registration applications, which county officials are sending to
eligible, but unregistered, voters, the lawsuit said.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
In the 2020 elections, Democratic President Joe Biden carried
the county while Republican former President Donald Trump
carried the entire state. Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential
election.
Biden won Bexar County, the state's fourth most populous county
and home to San Antonio, by 18 points, according to the Texas
Tribune. Overall, Trump carried the state with 52.1% of the vote
compared to Biden's 46.5%, the newspaper added.
Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the current Democratic
candidate, are locked in a tight race for the presidency, with
less than two months to go before the Nov. 5 election.
KEY QUOTES
The county's actions exceed its "statutory authority," the
lawsuit filing says.
Paxton in his statements in recent days had tried to paint the
voter registration plan as a way of registering non-citizens to
vote. Supporters of the plan deny that claim and say the step is
simply aimed at increasing voter participation.
"We've got people who just need to get registered. We don't tell
them who to vote for," County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, who
brought this idea to local leaders, was quoted as saying in the
Washington Post.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger)
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