Texas Senate Once Again Tries to Give the Attorney General Authority to Prosecute Election Crimes
Paxton and his political allies say the attorney general’s office should have the power to investigate and prosecute allegations of voter fraud because district attorneys in the state’s largest and bluest counties won’t properly pursue such cases. After the ruling, which was reaffirmed in 2022, Paxton called on the Legislature to “right this wrong,” arguing cases of fraud would otherwise go unpunished.
Evidence of widespread voter fraud is scant. While Paxton’s office has opened more than 300 investigations of suspected crimes by voters and election officials, they have successfully convicted only a handful. Voting rights experts say these investigations often ensnare people who made honest mistakes, rather than legitimate schemes to undermine Texas elections.
“We sure don’t want to intimidate voters,” Hughes said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “We want to intimidate cheaters.”
At a Senate State Affairs committee hearing last week, Sen. Bob Hall, an Edgewood Republican, asked Hughes if a constitutional amendment was necessary to avoid another court decision striking down the measure as unconstitutional.
Hughes pointed to a state statute that says the attorney general “shall perform other duties as may be required by law,” arguing his proposal would pass constitutional muster because it adds to those duties by mandating that the attorney general “shall” prosecute election fraud, rather than making it optional as in the law that was struck down in 2021.
“We hope that gives the Court of Criminal Appeals sufficient legal basis to see the constitutionality” of the new law, Hughes said.
Andrew Hendrickson, with the ACLU of Texas, said at the hearing he was skeptical that this would successfully sidestep the need for a constitutional amendment. While the court’s ruling is often understood to limit what the attorney general can do, it technically took aim at the Legislature for telling the attorney general he could prosecute election crimes in violation of the separation of power protections, Hendrickson said.
“It was the Legislature, by assigning a power that the constitution assigned to another branch of government without amending the constitution first, that creates the problem,” he said.
But the makeup of the Court of Criminal Appeals has changed significantly since those rulings in 2021 and 2022, after Paxton vowed political retribution against the judges who found against him. Last year, he helped unseat three longtime incumbents; two more have already said they won’t run for reelection in 2026.
Eleanor Klibanoff is the law and politics reporter at the Texas Tribune. This story is published courtesy of the Texas Tribune.The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. This article is published courtesy of the Texas Tribune.The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
