Texas: Battleground Texas Activities Draw Questions | The Texas Tribune

While saying it had received no complaint against the Democratic group Battleground Texas, the office of Texas Secretary of State Nandita Berry suggested Wednesday that the group’s voter registration practices might rise to a “potential level of offense” of state election law. Battleground Texas strongly disputes breaking any laws and said a flap over its registration efforts has Republicans running scared. At issue is a videotaped conversation with Battleground Texas volunteers in Bexar County. It was gathered surreptitiously by controversial conservative activist James O’Keefe, who has sent people posing as interested volunteers to infiltrate Democratic or liberal activist groups, after which he disseminates video that was secretly gathered.

Texas: Perry taps Houston lawyer as Texas secretary of state | Houston Chronicle

Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday appointed Houston lawyer Nandita Berry to be secretary of state, succeeding John Steen Jr. of San Antonio, who announced his resignation this month. Berry’s appointment, effective Jan. 7, will make her the first Indian-American to hold the position of chief elections officer for Texas, Perry said. “Nandita Berry personifies what is possible through hard work and dedication in the state of Texas,” Perry said in a statement announcing the appointment. She was 21 when she arrived from India “with nothing but $200 to her name” and has become “one of the most accomplished attorneys in the state.” “I am truly humbled to follow in the footsteps of Stephen F. Austin, Texas’ first secretary of state,” Berry said in a statement. “Like him, I came to Texas in search of a better life and the limitless opportunities to be found across our great state.”