Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has opened up investigations into allegations against at least 10 election workers, mostly for violating a controversial state law that prohibits obstructing a poll watcher.
wisconsin. because sure why wouldn t they try that? there s been no negative consequences for them with everything they ve tried thus far. now there s more news along those lines from the great state of texas. this is a story broken this week by the metro columnist at the austin american-statesman, bridgett grumet. she said, quote, i am worried for our democracy. so is travis county clerk dana debeauvoir, the county s tough as nails elections chief for the past 35 years, now speaking publicly about a serious threat she faced this year, an effort by texas republican attorney general ken paxton to charge her with a crime for her handling of the 2020 election. she says, quote, i don t take kindly to being threatened and feeling i can t speak back. to be clear, attorney general paxton did not succeed in his efforts. but earlier this year he tried to indict debuavoir over unlawfully obstructing a poll
watcher, a class a misdemeanor that could bring up a year in jail. it was a pretty trumped-up charge and it did not fly, even in paxton s hand-picked venue of williamson county, known for more conservative leanings. a grand jury returned a no bill in april, meaning they refused to hand down the indictment that the attorney general asked for. it all sounds so tidy in the past tense, but debeauvoir lived through months of uncertainty. attorney general paxton pursued her, starting in november 20, and it wasn t until july she learned that the grand jury had declined to charge her. she says, quote, there was nothing i could do to defend myself except to go hire, me personally, hire private attorneys. that was $75,000 to me, debeauvoir said. travis county commissioners voted in august to reimburse her legal fees. early on she worried she might have to eat those bills. had the case gone to trial, legal costs would have reached hundreds of thousands of dollars.