Why Republicans Are Reportedly Secretly Praying for Trump to Lose

“At best, this proposal is ill-advised because it potentially confuses residents of Harris County about whether they are eligible to vote. At worst, it may induce the commission of a crime by encouraging individuals who are ineligible to vote to provide false information on the form,” Paxton wrote in the letter to Harris County. “Either way, it is illegal, and if you move forward with this proposal, I will use all available legal means to stop you.”

Specifically, Paxton argued that the state had no right to distribute unsolicited registration forms, and pointed to a similar lawsuit he’d filed against Harris County in 2020 when it had tried to push a similar proposal. Paxton previously gushed to Steve Bannon that had he not blocked more than two million ballot applications from being distributed by the state, Texas might have become a battleground state and Donald Trump “would’ve lost the election.”

In reality, there is little to no evidence to demonstrate that noncitizen voting is a significant problem in the United States. In 2016, noncitizen votes counted for just 0.0001 percent of the votes cast, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Still, it’s a nonissue that Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, and of course Trump, have continued to tout baselessly throughout the election cycle.