Texas AG Sues Harris County Clerk Over Race-Targeted Voter Ads
HOUSTON, Texas — The Texas Attorney General's Office sued Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and her communications director in Harris County district court on October 29, alleging the county's voter-outreach ads on Facebook and Instagram were targeted by race and ethnicity, including Asian audiences that encompass Houston's Chinese American voters. Developments were reported October 30.
The petition says the county used Meta's ad tools to promote "plan, verify, vote" messaging with targeting categories such as "African history," "African literature," "Latin dance," Spanish-language interests, and a range of Asian, Latin American and African national and cultural interests. The state argues that using public funds to segment voters by race and ethnicity in election information violates the Texas Constitution's equal rights protections, and asks the court for a temporary restraining order pulling the ads or stripping the race- and ethnicity-based targeting, plus an injunction against similar future outreach.
Figures cited in the filing show the ads launched September 23, with new ads added October 7, spending about $43,429 over 30 days — roughly $10,804 in the most recent seven days — with one ad set passing one million impressions.
On the evening of October 30, Hudspeth said the county had removed the disputed audience tags so as not to interfere with election administration, though that does not end the state's legal claims about how the ads were targeted. As of October 30, no court had issued a final ruling that the ads were unlawful.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Downtown Houston, TX Skyline - 2018。David Daniel Turner 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Downtown Houston, TX Skyline - 2018. By David Daniel Turner, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
