Texas Democrats Ask for Investigation Into Ken Paxton After Our Reporting Found He May Have Violated Election Law

Dallas-area Democrats are demanding that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton be investigated for illegal voting after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that he has repeatedly voted while registered at an address where he appears to no longer live.

In a complaint filed Tuesday, the Collin County Democratic Party asked the Texas secretary of state to investigate whether Paxton committed election fraud by voting in the May primary runoff. Paxton beat longtime incumbent John Cornyn in that race, securing the Republican Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate.

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Mary Higbe, vice chair of the Collin County Democratic Party, noted in the complaint that Paxton’s office, as recently as February, warned voters that “it is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records.”

“For someone who’s made a stand against voter fraud, it’s unconscionable (yet not surprising) that Paxton engages in this behavior,” Higbe wrote. She added, “I ask that he be held to the same standards he wishes to hold others to.”

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported last week that Paxton has voted six times in the past two years while registered at an address in Collin County where he previously lived with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.

Paxton moved out of the Collin County home in June 2024 and has not returned, according to a divorce filing by his wife and a source close to the Paxton family. It is unclear where Paxton has lived for the past two years, but reporting by ProPublica and the Tribune has linked him to a home in neighboring Denton County since February.

Three election officials told ProPublica and the Tribune that Paxton may have broken state election law, which requires voters to be registered where they live. Voters may temporarily cast ballots using an address where they do not reside, so long as they intend to return. The experts said it is unclear whether Paxton could make such an argument given his ongoing public and contentious divorce.

The day after Collin County Democrats filed the complaint, the Texas Democratic Party issued a news release that accused Paxton of ignoring “bombshell voter fraud accusations.”

It’s unclear what will happen with the complaint. Under the current system, the secretary of state conducts an “initial review and, if appropriate, refers it to the Office of the Attorney General,” said Alicia Pierce, spokesperson for Secretary of State Jane Nelson, whose last day in the position is Friday. Pierce did not respond to a question about whether the office would handle a complaint against Paxton differently. She instead pointed to the state law that requires the secretary of state to “promptly” refer complaints to the attorney general if “there is reasonable cause to suspect that criminal conduct occurred.”

Paxton’s situation seems to meet that threshold, and the attorney general should seek outside help, given the conflict of interest in investigating himself, said San Antonio election lawyer Joaquin Gonzalez, who previously led the voting rights program at the Texas Civil Rights Project.

“The ethical and sort of best practice would be for the attorney general’s office to hire an independent special investigator to look into the complaint,” Gonzalez said.

Paxton did not answer questions from the newsrooms in early July about his voter registration and residency.

Neither he nor the attorney general’s office responded to questions about the complaint or how they would handle the case should the secretary of state refer it to his office.

Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy sent the newsrooms a broad statement unrelated to Paxton’s voter registration that accused the “political elite” and reporters of digging through the attorney general’s private life to “draw the most damning conclusion.” The campaign did not answer a question about Cercy’s previous statements to other news outlets that Paxton “is a lawful, registered Texas voter in full compliance with the law.”

Higbe said in an interview that the complaint tests Texas’ system of checks and balances, adding that this is “an opportunity to see if that system still works.” Still, she said she doubts the attorney general would permit a fair investigation of his own conduct.

“But pointing out hypocrisy from the state’s top cop is necessary,” Higbe said.

The post Texas Democrats Ask for Investigation Into Ken Paxton After Our Reporting Found He May Have Violated Election Law appeared first on ProPublica.