The Campaign Intervention Olympics: Ken Paxton's War on Latino Nonprofit Voter Registration

You have already heard about it, I'm sure.  But I waited to post about Ken Paxton again until I could get a copy of LULAC's letter to DOJ.  The lazy-eyed, modern day Bull Connor has set loose a posse of armed agents to break down little old ladies' doors in the wee hours to search for evidence that they and Latino-focused nonprofits are registering folks to vote who are not eligible.  I am not making any of this up.  Here is some background from the New Republic:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s crusade against supposed voter fraud appears to be targeting the state’s Democrats. Last week, Paxton’s office announced raids and undercover actions against nonprofit organizations in Texas it accuses of illegally registering noncitizens to vote. In practice, though, the raids have taken place against members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S., as well as several prominent Democrats in south Texas.  According to LULAC officials, the group’s members had their cell phones and laptops confiscated by law enforcement officials carrying out search warrants.

“Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino non-profit organizations like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members,” Juan Proaño, LULAC’s CEO, told CBS News. “It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting.”  One of the activists targeted was 87-year-old Lidia Martinez of San Antonio, a LULAC member for more that 35 years who works to expand voter registration for seniors and veterans. Last Tuesday, she said nine officers in tactical gear knocked on her door, presented a warrant, and questioned her for more than three hours. They took her phone, calendar, computer, blank voter registration forms, and her certificate to conduct voter registration.

My research assistant finally located the hard to find complaint LULAC sent to DOJ's, Civil Rights Division earlier this week.  Here is some of it:

 

The Latino community has a long history of facing voter suppression, a legacy that dates back to the early 20th century.  In Texas, tactics such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and outright intimidation were used to disenfranchise Latino voters.  The infamous  "white primary" system excluded Latino and Black citizens from participating in primary elections, which were effectively the only meaningful elections in the one-party South.  Despite being U.S. Citizens, may Latinos were systematically denied the right to vote through these discriminatory practices.  In more recent history, efforts to suppress the Latino vote have evolved but remain pervasive.  Voter ID laws, purging of voter rolls, and aggressive gerrymandering have disproportionately affected Latino communities.  These modern tactics are often justified under the guise of preventing voter fraud, yet they primarily serve to disenfranchise Latino voters, particularly in states like Texas where Latinos now comprise 39.78% of the population.  

 

Paxton's justification could not be flimsier:

 

Investigators from the Texas Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit recently conducted undercover operations to identify potential voter registration of noncitizens in Texas. The investigation has already confirmed that various nonprofit organizations have been located outside Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License offices, operating booths offering to assist in voter registration for persons doing business at the driver’s license offices. But all citizens have already been presented an opportunity to register to vote as part of the process of renewing or being issued an identification card or driver’s license, so there is no obvious need to assist citizens to register to vote outside DPS offices—calling into question the motives of the nonprofit groups.

 

Ah well.  It's about time somebody did something about little old ladies and Catholic nuns anyway.  

 

darryll k. jones