Jolt Initiative, a nonprofit that aims to increase civic participation among Latinos, is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to block his efforts to shut them down. Paxton announced Monday that he was seeking to revoke the nonprofit's charter, alleging that the group had orchestrated "a systematic, unlawful voter registration scheme."
This is not the first legal back-and-forth between Jolt and Paxton's office. Last year, the organization successfully sued to stop the state's investigation into their voter registration efforts. In the new suit, Jolt's lawyers argue Paxton's efforts to shut them down are retaliation. The attorney general's office has also in recent years targeted other organizations aiding Latinos and migrants, such as the effort to investigate and shut down El Paso-based Annunciation House.
"Jolt is simply the latest target of his unlawful campaign to undermine and silence civil rights groups in Texas," said Mimi Marziani, a lawyer representing the nonprofit.
The background: In August 2024, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo said on X that a friend had seen organizations registering migrants to vote outside state drivers license facilities in Fort Worth and Weatherford. But local officials, including the Parker County Republican chair, said there was no evidence backing the post.
Bartiromo's debunked claims still prompted an attorney general investigation into organizations including Jolt.
Jolt then sued for a temporary restraining order, saying that Paxton's probe would harm the organization as well as put its workers and volunteers at risk. In October 2024, both sides agreed to pause their legal fight and Jolt was allowed to continue its work, while the courts addressed a different lawsuit involving the tool used by Paxton to investigate the group. The attorney general's office now said in its recent court filing that it has agreed to not issue another subpoena, instead opting to launch a new lawsuit.
In addition, Paxton announced earlier this year that his office is investigating cases of "potential noncitizens" casting more than 200 ballots in 2020 and 2022, which would be around one-thousandth of 1% of the votes cast during these periods.
Meanwhile, Texas counties are looking into more than 2,700 registered voters who were flagged as "potential noncitizens." At least six of them have been confirmed to be U.S. citizens.
Voters also recently approved a constitutional amendment adding language to the state's constitution saying that a person who is not a U.S. citizen cannot vote in Texas. Noncitizen voting was already illegal prior to this update.
Why Texas sued: Following Bartiromo's claims, the attorney general's office sent an undercover agent to a DMV location near San Antonio to investigate by attempting to register a fake daughter — who wasn't physically with him — to vote, according to Paxton's Oct. 23 court filing. It said a Jolt volunteer deputy registrar still instructed the agent on how to register his daughter, despite her absence.
Although when the agent asked for a form to take his daughter, the Jolt volunteer said he could not let the agent have one. The agent said the volunteer then inferred that he could register his daughter to vote, which is illegal, according to the filing.
"I stated in a question format that I couldn't have one, and [the VDR] replied that since I have her information, I could register her to vote, alluding to being a parent and that I had that right," the agent wrote. "This was inferring that I could sign her voter registration card, and while [the VDR] made this statement he overtly looked away. This is not only incorrect but illegal per election code."
Jolt disputed this claim about legality in its court filing.
Paxton's filing didn't provide evidence of Jolt registering noncitizens to vote. Instead, it said the group's decision to hold voter registration drives near DMV locations "illuminates its unlawful motive."
"This is because U.S. citizens can already register to vote at any DMV with proof of citizenship," the court document said. "Thus, there is no need for a VDR at such locations."
Paxton brought the lawsuit in Tarrant County, saying that a "substantial part of the events" underlying its claims took place there.
"JOLT is a radical, partisan operation that has, and continues to, knowingly attempt to corrupt our voter rolls and weaken the voice of lawful Texas voters," he said in a news release. "I will make sure they face the full force of the law."
What Jolt says: The nonprofit filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, asking a judge to stop Paxton's state lawsuit because it infringes on their rights under the First Amendment and the Voting Rights Act.
In particular, Jolt said in a court filing that its volunteer didn't do anything wrong because Texas' election code does allow for a person to appoint their parent as "an agent" to "complete and sign a registration application" for them. The parent must also be a qualified voter or must have submitted a registration application and be eligible to vote, according to the code.
"Here, the State provides very few particularized factual allegations in its Petition to support its Motion for Leave, instead relying upon sweeping but unsupported claims about Jolt's motives, beliefs and activities," the group said in its initial response to Paxton's lawsuit.
Jolt also said it will fight to defend its mission, adding that Paxton is "abusing his authority" in order to stop its voter registration drives.
"This is a systematic effort to dismantle the infrastructure of Latino civic engagement in Texas," Jackie Bastard, Jolt's executive director, said in a news release.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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