TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — Businesses, universities and government offices across Central Texas hosted registration drives on Tuesday in honor of National Voter Registration Day.
That included in Travis County, an area locked in a legal battle with the state over efforts to reach unregistered residents.
“Counties have a duty to register eligible Texans to vote,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown said.
Brown was one of several county elected officials who gave an update Tuesday afternoon after being sued on Sept. 6 by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Almost every time I say it in my head, it sounds ridiculous: Travis County has been sued for attempting to register eligible voters to vote,” Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said.
Paxton announced the lawsuit after Travis County commissioners voted to hire an outside company, Civic Government Solutions, to find potentially unregistered voters.
“Travis County has blatantly violated Texas law by paying partisan actors to conduct unlawful identification efforts to track down people who are not registered to vote,” Paxton wrote in a statement on Sept. 6. “Programs like this invite fraud and reduce public trust in our elections. We will stop them and any other county considering such programs.”
On Tuesday, Travis County leaders pushed back.
“The law, in fact, not only allows this type of activity, it encourages it and it calls it a duty,” Garza said.
Garza announced she has filed a complaint against Paxton in federal court over what she called “the state’s attempt to violate the National Voter Registration Act” and has requested Travis County be allowed to continue its voter registration outreach.
She also filed a motion to move the lawsuit from state court to federal court.
At the same time, county leaders held that news conference, Zeta Phi Beta sorority and the NAACP registered voters at Huston-Tillotson University in East Austin.
“People coming to campuses, especially HBCUs, and showing that they care and showing and trying to get students to vote is a fantastic thing,” Todd Clayton, a senior at Huston-Tillotson University, said.
Pflugerville City Councilmember Rudy Metayer spoke at the event. He told KVUE every vote counts.
“We just had a local election where the person lost by three votes, and it’s made a huge difference on one of our municipalities’ city councils,” Metayer said.
Oct. 7 is the deadline to register to vote in Texas for the upcoming election. Eligible Texans can do so at any post office or library.
Texans can check their registration status at votetexas.gov.