Three top Texas GOP officials who oppose expanding mail-in voting have each used it
Three of Texas' top Republican leaders are vigorously fighting efforts to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, arguing it will lead to increased voter fraud, yet all three have themselves cast absentee ballots at least once in past elections.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — then a state senator — voted by mail in 2007 for a May Houston municipal election and an ensuing runoff, though Harris County records show his first mail-in ballot was rejected because of a signature verification issue. Patrick is a regular voter in both local and state elections and favors casting his ballot during the early voting period. He's been voting in Montgomery County since 2017.
Although he’s a regular in-person voter in Collin County, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton used the voting-by-mail option to cast a ballot in a 2011 municipal election, according to county records. In recent elections, he's opted for voting early.
Travis County election records show Gov. Greg Abbott cast a mail-in ballot in a 1997 special election when he was a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Abbott consistently votes in local and state elections.
Paxton’s office has been locked in legal fights on multiple fronts in state and federal courts to block an expansion of voting by mail during the coronavirus pandemic, and thus far his office has successfully convinced appellate courts to close the legal door on allowing more voters to qualify for mail-in ballots.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/29/texas-mail-voting-used-greg-abbott-dan-patrick-and-ken-paxton/