The Harris County Clerk’s Office made adjustments to its online get-out-the-vote advertisements on Thursday night, following a lawsuit from the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The lawsuit accused the clerk’s office of employing “racially discriminatory” advertising strategies aimed at specific voter demographics.
The Attorney General’s lawsuit claimed that the advertisements were designed to target Black, Latino, and Asian voters while excluding “European ethnicities.” It sought a directive from a Harris County district judge to either remove or modify the social media ads to eliminate all racial and ethnic identifiers.
In response, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth stated that the audience tags had been removed from the ads to prevent any distractions from the electoral process. However, the implications of this change on the ongoing lawsuit remain unclear.
The lawsuit contends that advertisements on Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, featured tags that were deliberately aimed at users with interests related to African, Asian, and Latino cultures. Specific tags cited in the complaint included topics such as African-American literature, Latin music, and cultural references to various countries and cities, including Madrid and Bangkok.
According to the lawsuit, the clerk’s office violated constitutional principles by using ad targeting that favored certain ethnicities over others. It asserted that there is no valid justification for Harris County to intentionally focus on specific voter ethnicities and cultural interests while neglecting those of European backgrounds.
The ads, which encourage voters to plan their voting strategies, began circulating in late September and early October. The lawsuit emphasized that as long as these advertisements remain active and continue to target users based on race or ethnicity, the defendants are breaching the Texas Constitution.
The Harris County Attorney’s Office is currently reviewing the lawsuit, labeling it a “pathetic political distraction” in a recent social media post. The office reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that every eligible voter is heard and that their votes are safeguarded.
In a statement, the Attorney General’s office accused the Harris County clerk of running the ads to boost voter turnout among certain racial and ethnic groups. It also noted that the Attorney General recused himself from the lawsuit due to his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, but did not clarify when this recusal occurred or how the office became aware of the ad targeting issues.
U.S. Representative Christian Menefee, a Democrat representing part of Houston, criticized the lawsuit on social media, alleging that the Attorney General aims to suppress voter turnout in Houston. He described the ads as merely providing neighbors with essential voting information and accused the Attorney General of being displeased with the engagement of diverse voters in Harris County.
