Texas has sued the Harris County clerk and her communications director, alleging that voter-awareness adverts on Facebook and Instagram unlawfully targeted African-American, Asian and Latino audiences while excluding other demographic groups.
The lawsuit, filed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office on Thursday, names Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and Irene Nuñez, the clerk’s director of communications, as defendants. It alleges that the county used Meta’s advertising tools to promote “Plan. Check. Vote!” messages ahead of the November 3 general election.
According to the filing, the adverts used detailed targeting categories including “African-American history”, “African-American literature”, “Hispanic kitchen”, “Latin dance”, Spanish-language interests and a range of Asian, Latin American and African countries and cultural interests.
The state claims the practice violates equal-rights protections in the Texas Constitution by directing public voter information towards selected racial and ethnic groups rather than Harris County residents more broadly.
Texas seeks order to halt targeted voter adverts
Officials are asking a court to issue an immediate temporary restraining order requiring the adverts to be taken down or stripped of their racial and ethnic targeting criteria. The state is also seeking temporary and permanent injunctions against similar campaigns in future.
The filing says the advertising campaign began on September 23, with further adverts launched on October 7. One group of adverts had generated more than one million impressions, while three adverts launched in September had recorded at least 2.7 million impressions, according to data cited in the lawsuit.
The Harris County Elections Department is alleged to have spent an estimated $43,429 on the targeted adverts during the 30 days before October 29, including about $10,804 in the preceding seven days.
The state argues that county officials had no legal authority to classify voters by race or ethnicity when spending public money on election information. It says the adverts were still active when the case was filed, with early voting due to end on Friday, October 30, and Election Day taking place on Tuesday, November 3.
Attorney General Ken Paxton recused himself from the case because he is a candidate in the Senate election taking place on November 3. The Attorney General’s Office said the action was therefore brought on behalf of the state without his direct involvement.
The Harris County Clerk’s Office had been asked for a response to the allegations.
