By Guillermo Contreras
San Antonio Express-News
Originally published Jan. 29, 2019
The League of United Latin American Citizens filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Texas Secretary of State David Whitley and Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking an order to force state officials to release the data used in support of Paxton’s claim last week that nearly 100,000 voters may not be U.S. citizens.
The suit says Paxton’s announcement last week is a method of voter suppression, meant to instill fear in Hispanic voters.
“That’s all they’re doing,” said Luis Vera, LULAC’s general counsel. “They’ve done it in Florida; they’ve done it in Arizona and other states.
“It’s voter intimidation, voter threats. People are already calling (local election offices) and asking them to take them off the voter rolls.”
Paxton made the claim last week in a news release and on social media. The state has now taken the position that no information used in the analysis for Paxton’s claim will be released because it is in the hands of the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the investigations are active.
By doing so, the state is using the Texas Public Information Act act as a shield, as it prohibits information from active investigations to be made public, according to Vera and the lawsuit.
Read the full story here. For more information about the lawsuit and the county’s reaction, go to ExpressNews.com.