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 repeatedly voted while registered at an address he no longer believed to live.
In a complaint filed Tuesday, the Collin County Democratic Party asked the Texas Secretary of State to investigate whether Paxton committed election fraud in the May primary runoff. Paxton defeated longtime incumbent John Cornyn in that race, securing the Republican nomination for the Senate.
Mary Higbe, vice chair of the Collin County Democratic Party, noted in the complaint that Paxton’s office warned voters in February that “misrepresenting your residence on election records is illegal.”
“For someone who has taken a stand against voter fraud, it is unconscionable (but not surprising) that Mr. Paxton would engage in such conduct,” Higbe wrote. She added: “I hope he holds himself to the same standards that he wants to hold others to.”
ProPublica and the Texas Tribune reported last week that Paxton registered at the Collin County address where he previously lived with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, and has voted six times in the past two years.
Paxton left their Collin County home in June 2024 and has not returned, according to divorce filings filed by his wife and a source close to the Paxton family. It is unclear where Mr. Paxton has lived for the past two years, but ProPublica and the Tribune have reported that he has been living in a home in neighboring Denton County since February.
Three election officials told ProPublica and the Tribune that Paxton may have violated state election laws that require voters to register where they live. Voters can temporarily vote using a non-resident address as long as they intend to return home. Experts said it was unclear whether Paxton could make such a claim, given his still-public and controversial divorce.
A day after the Collin County Democratic Party filed its complaint, the Texas Democratic Party issued a news release accusing Paxton of ignoring “allegations of voter fraud through bombshell statements.”
It is unclear what will happen to the charges. Under the current system, the secretary of state “conducts an initial review and refers cases to the attorney general’s office as appropriate,” said Alicia Pearce, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Jane Nelson, whose last day in the job is Friday. Mr. Pierce did not respond to questions about whether his office would handle complaints against Mr. Paxton differently. She instead pointed to a state law that requires the secretary of state to “promptly” submit complaints to the attorney general if there is “reasonable cause to suspect that criminal conduct has occurred.”
Joaquin Gonzalez, a San Antonio elections attorney who previously led the Texas Civil Rights Project’s voting rights program, said Paxton’s situation appears to meet that standard and that outside help should be sought given the conflict of interest with the attorney general’s own investigation.
“The ethical and sort of best practice would be for the attorney general’s office to hire an independent special agent to investigate the complaint,” Gonzalez said.
Paxton did not respond to questions from news outlets about voter registration and residency in early July.
Neither he nor the attorney general’s office responded to questions about the complaint or what the secretary of state’s office would do if it referred the matter to the attorney general’s office.
Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Searcy sent a broad statement to news outlets unrelated to Paxton’s voter registration, accusing “political elites” and reporters of digging into the attorney general’s private life to “draw the most damning conclusions.” The campaign did not respond to questions about Searcy’s previous statements to other news outlets that Paxton “is a fully law-abiding and legally registered Texas voter.”
Higbe said in an interview that the charges are testing Texas’ system of checks and balances, adding that this is “an opportunity to see if that system still works.” Still, she said she doubted the attorney general would allow a fair investigation into her conduct.
“However, it is necessary to point out the hypocrisy at the top of the state police force,” Higbe said.
