McKinney Recall Effort Draws Federal Civil Rights Complaint Over Alleged Intimidation
25th August 2026
Last week, the group announced it submitted a civil rights complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that the agency review a “developing and increasingly concerning situation in McKinney, Texas, involving conduct that appears intended to intimidate, harass, discourage, or otherwise interfere with registered voters who are considering signing a lawful recall petition involving elected officials of the City of McKinney.”
Paul Chabot, chairman of Collin County Citizens for Integrity, told the Daily Signal the complaint is necessary to protect the rights of local residents.
“We filed this complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice because we are seeing a troubling pattern of intimidation and harassment directed at McKinney residents who are signing or helping collect signatures for the recall petition,” he said. “People should not have to fear being photographed, publicly identified, researched online, or having their jobs and livelihoods targeted because they participate in a lawful political process. Political disagreement is protected, but intimidation and retaliation have no place in our community.”
The complaint, sent to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, states that as the recall process is in the signature-gathering stage, there have been “statements and conduct that appear directed toward identifying, singling out, harassing, intimidating, or discouraging individual citizens from participating in the petition process.”
According to the complaint, former elected officials, politically active community members, and others have made public statements discussing methods of disrupting the signature-gathering process and discouraging people from signing.