Texas officials say there’s no evidence of illegal voter registration

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North Texas county officials have denied a Fox News host’s claim that immigrants were registering to vote outside a state driver’s license facility west of Fort Worth, an unfounded claim that appears to have sparked an investigation by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.

Both the Parker County Republican Party chairman and elections board said there is no evidence to support an Aug. 18 social media post by Maria Bartiromo, a TV personality who has previously spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

Paxton’s office announced Wednesday that it was opening an investigation into “reports that groups operating in Texas may be illegally registering foreign nationals to vote.”

In announcing the investigation, the attorney general’s office said investigators found that nonprofits had set up booths outside licensing offices to offer voter registration assistance, but did not say where specifically those offices were located.

The statement from the attorney general’s office did not cite any violations of law.

The Department of Public Safety, which manages the state’s driver’s license offices, said in an email obtained by The Texas Tribune that voter registration groups will not be allowed to recruit new voters outside of those offices — a response to allegations that so far have not proven true.

Neither the attorney general’s office nor the Department of Public Safety responded to questions about the investigation.

In Texas, there are multiple ways to register to vote, including obtaining or renewing a driver’s license or identification card. U.S. citizens and Texas residents may also register to become a volunteer deputy voter registrar. These individuals must register with their local county and attend training.

One of the first questions on a state voter registration application is whether the applicant is a United States citizen.

There is no evidence that foreigners vote or register to vote in large numbers. States tried to search voting rolls for foreigners in 2019, but stopped because it jeopardized legitimate voter registrations and sparked three federal lawsuits.

Gabriel Rosales, president of the Texas chapter of the Federation of Texas Latinos, said he viewed Paxton’s investigation as an intimidation tactic aimed at preventing Hispanic voters from voting, adding that he had no problem with people who help with voter registration outside of driver’s license offices.

“I don’t think it’s a violation to have them there,” Rosales said. Republicans “know how it goes,” he said. “They know that if the Hispanic vote comes out, they’re going to lose.”

Bartiromo first made the claim on social media, citing a “friend” whose wife said there were long lines of immigrants at the Weatherford DPS office getting driver’s licenses and tents set up outside the office for immigrants to register to vote. He later repeated the claim on his Fox Business television show.

In reporting on the Paxton investigation, she acknowledged statements from Parker County Republican Chairman Brady Gray, who refuted her claims on his show last week.

Bartiromo is no stranger to spreading controversial claims with little or no evidence: She was one of the first to repeat on Fox News the baseless conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems rigged voting machines to steal votes from Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

These allegations formed the basis of a $787 million defamation settlement between Dominion and Fox News. As part of the lawsuit, it was revealed that Bartiromo’s claims about Dominion originated from an email from a Minnesota woman who, in addition to what she described as “outlandish” theories about Dominion, wrote that she was a time traveler who spoke to the wind, and that former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had actually been killed as part of a week-long human-hunting expedition.

The women’s claims were forwarded to Bartiromo by Sidney Powell, a Dallas attorney and longtime election fraud conspiracy theorist who pleaded guilty last year to trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The day after receiving the emails, Bartiromo aired an interview with Powell in which she refuted many of the claims about Dominion. Text messages released as part of the Dominion lawsuit indicate that some of Bartiromo’s producers believed she was susceptible to conspiracy theories and that Republican activists were using her to push their agenda.

Gray denied Bartiromo’s claim that migrants were lined up outside the DPS office in Weatherford, and he said on social media that the party had investigated the allegation.

“Voter registration is increasing daily in Parker County, however there has not been a mass submission of registrations consistent with the allegations,” he wrote to X. “The DPS office has confirmed that there are no tents or tables or anyone registering to vote on the premises, and if they are, they will be asked to leave as it is not permitted.”

Parker County Elections Supervisor Cricket Miller also denied the incident, saying communications between DPS and her office confirmed that no tables or even booths were set up outside the DPS office.

In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Gray reiterated his belief that there is no evidence of voter registration fraud in Parker County, but said he supports Paxton and others in investigating voter registration fraud.

“I think it’s absurd for anyone with a functioning brain and an IQ above 40 to believe that there’s no election fraud going on anywhere,” Gray said.

He said the online reaction to X’s post denying the fraud allegations was odd, with some people using the incident to deny allegations of fraud elsewhere in the state.

Robert Downen contributed.

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