AP Photo / Cliff Owen
Dr. Steven Hotze, president of Conservative Republicans of Texas, speaks at a Restrain the Judges news conference, while Janet Porter of Faith2Action listens at right, in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, April 27, 2015.
The Supreme Court of Texas announced Friday that it would not hear an appeal on behalf of conservative activist and Republican megadonor Steven Hotze, in a suit in which he and three other plaintiffs accused the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office of failing to uphold election integrity by properly maintaining the county’s voter registration roll.
An appeals court had earlier ruled in favor of Tax Assessor-Collector Annette Ramirez, on the grounds that Hotze and his fellow plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
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Hotze initially filed the lawsuit in mid-October 2024, just weeks ahead of that year’s presidential election. Joining him in the suit against then-Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett were Joseph Trahan, a Republican nominee for Texas State Senate District 15, and Caroline Kane, a Republican running for Congressional District 7 of the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller later joined the suit as a fourth plaintiff.
Hotze alleged Harris County’s voter roll was “bloated” by “tens of thousands” of illegal voters, who he expected would vote for Democratic candidates. By allowing this, Hotze argued, Bennett had violated the Texas Election Code. Hotze demanded that the alleged illegal voters be removed from the county’s voter roll.
The lawsuit asserted that the registration roll includes voters “who have moved out of Harris County, voters who have died, voters who are felons, voters who have registered at post office or private mail boxes with commercial mail receiving agencies, scores of voters who are not related to each other but have registered at the same address, voters who have registered at a commercial address and do not reside there and voters who claim to live on vacant [properties].”
“He did not name one single specific voter,” said Cris Feldman, an election attorney with the law firm of Feldman and Feldman.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, weighed in on behalf of Hotze this past November.
“Under the National Voter Registration Act, it is appropriate and necessary for jurisdictions to maintain the integrity of voter registration rolls. This includes removing ineligible voters and those who have left the area or passed away. The potential presence of illegal aliens is particularly concerning, as they should never have been added to the rolls in the first place,” Cornyn said. “I encourage swift consideration of this case and look forward to Houston rectifying these egregious errors and following our election laws.”
Hotze’s proposed remedy was to force the Harris County voter registrar to monitor the accuracy of the county’s voter registration roll, to review the National Change of Address database on a monthly basis, and to promptly review and determine challenges to the registration status of a voter.
“It was an attempt to just put more obligations on the county that are not required, an attempt to use that to say that Harris County is running flawed elections,” Feldman said. “He is a repeat offender in terms of filing these suits in an attempt to undermine the integrity and confidence in Harris County elections.”
Hotze’s attorney, Jared Woodfill, did not immediately return a request for comment on the high court’s denial of his appeal.
Hotze has been at the forefront of election challenges in recent years. In 2020, Hotze and other conservative Houston activists sued Harris County in an attempt to limit in-person and absentee voting options for voters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, Hotze challenged Gov. Greg Abbott for extending early voting amid the pandemic.
While many of Hotze’s suits have failed, they have often preceded successful legislative efforts to target Harris County’s conduct of elections. Even when they don’t, they often impose a steep cost on county taxpayers, who bear the costs of defending against the lawsuits.
“It’s a constant barrage, because Harris County has so many voters that can flip this state one way or the other that certain people feel like attacking the integrity and credibility of our elections is an effective political tool,” Fledman said.