Ken Paxton hasn’t let running for the senate keep him from his favorite pastime: filing lawsuits. This time he’s suing “‘Radical Open-Borders Group Over Alleged Illegal Voter-Registration Scheme.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the nonprofit JOLT Initiative, accusing the Democrat-aligned voter-registration group of orchestrating what he calls a “systematic, unlawful voter-registration scheme” designed to “sabotage Texas election integrity and allow illegals to vote.”
Not that one.
The suit, filed October 23 in Tarrant County district court, invokes the state’s quo warranto authority—a constitutional power allowing the attorney general to ask a judge to revoke a corporation’s charter if it is violating Texas law.
According to the filing, undercover investigators from Paxton’s office observed Jolt volunteers stationed outside Department of Motor Vehicles offices instructing people how to fill out voter-registration forms in ways that violated the Texas Election Code, including offering to register individuals who were not present. The state alleges those practices could enable non-citizens without valid identification to submit unlawful voter-registration applications.
“The left constantly tries to cheat and rig elections because they know they can’t win honestly,” Paxton said in announcing the suit. “Any organization attempting to register illegals, who are all criminals, must be completely crushed and shut down immediately. JOLT is a radical, partisan operation that has, and continues to, knowingly attempt to corrupt our voter rolls and weaken the voice of lawful Texas voters. I will make sure they face the full force of the law.”
Paxton’s office is asking the court to order the forfeiture of Jolt’s corporate privileges, dissolution of its charter, and appointment of a receiver to wind down the organization’s operations.
In the petition, the state cites “systematic, knowing, willful, deliberate, and reckless” violations of election statutes and argues that criminal conduct under the election code constitutes “sufficient cause” for revocation of Jolt’s corporate status.
JOLT, which describes itself as a nonprofit working to “increase civic participation among young Latinos,” has argued in federal court that its volunteer deputy registrars are trained according to secretary of state guidance and must submit all applications they receive—eligible or not—for counties to determine eligibility.
JOLT Initiative is an Austin-based 501(c)(3) organization. It’s 990 filing shows it’s run by liberal Democrat Diana Maldonado, who longtime readers might remember as a one-term state representative before Republican Larry Gonzales beat her in the Texas House District 52 race in 2010.
There’s no election fraud vector Democrats won’t try. With some blue states handing driver’s licenses out like candy in a ploy to get illegal aliens onto the voting roles, Paxton is wise to nip this particular fraud attempt in the bud.
