CNN
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A district judge in San Antonio has rejected an attempt by the Texas attorney general to block one of the state’s largest counties from mailing voter registration applications to large numbers of unregistered voters.

Judge Antonia Arteaga on Monday dismissed a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton because Bexar County had already filed the motions.

County commissioners approved a plan on Sept. 3 to send out about 210,000 applications through a contract with an outside vendor. Paxton, a Republican, had threatened legal action if Bexar County went ahead with its plan to work with the vendor, Civic Government Solutions, and filed a lawsuit the next day.

In his lawsuit, the attorney general argued that it was illegal for the county to send out unsolicited mass voter registration applications by mail.

But county officials were confident they had solid legal ground and went ahead with their plan. The applications were sent out late last week, county officials said.

“Our position from the beginning has been that the commissioners had every right to do what they did, and we are very pleased with the judge’s decision today,” Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales told reporters after the hearing, according to CNN affiliate KABB.

Paxton’s office filed the appeal Monday evening. His office argued that Bexar County rushed to send out the applications before the hearing and expressed concern that some recipients may not be eligible to vote. In a statement, he vowed to “fight with all means necessary to hold (the county) accountable.”

“In an act of malice, Bexar County has used dirty tricks to avoid appropriate judicial review of a blatantly unlawful program that facilitates election fraud,” Paxton said in the statement.

Paxton has filed a similar lawsuit against Travis County, which includes Austin. The lawsuit is part of a broader push by Texas Republican leaders against predominantly Democratic cities that want to make voting easier and more accessible.

His office also set up an election integrity unit in 2018 to investigate allegations of voter fraud, but convictions were rare.

This story has been updated with additional information.