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Regardless of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, there was neither widespread voter fraud nor different severe points in Texas’ 2020 elections, in line with an audit of 4 of Texas’ largest counties launched Monday night by Secretary of State John Scott’s workplace.
Whereas the 359-page report did discover some “irregularities,” it nonetheless strengthened what election consultants and displays — including Scott, the state’s chief election official — have stated for years: that the 2020 contest was not riddled with widespread fraud, and Texans needs to be assured that future elections shall be equally safe.
“When the Texas Election Code and native procedures are adopted, Texas voters ought to have a really excessive degree of confidence within the accuracy of the result of Texas elections,” the report acknowledged. “When procedures are adopted, outcomes of the election are reliable. Certainly, usually, the audit discovered that the counties adopted their procedures and clearly documented their actions.”
The audit was prompted amid ongoing considerations about election safety which were intensified by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 contest was rife with fraud. In response to Trump’s baseless assertions — which have repeatedly been debunked in dozens of dismissed lawsuits — Scott’s workplace launched probes of 4 of Texas’ largest counties: Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin.
The findings come forward of the Texas Legislature’s upcoming session, which begins Jan. 10 and is anticipated to incorporate quite a few voting payments. And the report sheds new mild on the results of Senate Invoice 1, a bundle of voting reforms that lawmakers handed through the 2021 session that considerably tightened mail-in voter identification necessities, banned drive-thru and 24-hour voting, and curtailed early-voting hours, amongst different issues.
The report discovered that “most of the irregularities noticed” in 2020 had been seemingly attributable to the “extraordinary challenges” posed by the pandemic and ensuing staffing shortages. And, auditors stated, such issues are even much less more likely to happen in future contests due to legislative adjustments, together with these in Senate Invoice 1.
Of the 4 counties the report analyzed, the Harris County common election had probably the most points, together with improper chain of custody of cellular poll containers at 14 polling places. Auditors additionally discovered 1000’s of discrepancies between digital pollbook data and audit logs.
The Harris County elections directors workplace couldn’t be reached for remark Monday. Officers in Harris County — which considerably expanded voter access through the pandemic — have beforehand decried the improved oversight from the secretary of state’s workplace as unwarranted and characterised it as an try at voter suppression.
Tarrant County, the place a grassroots conservative group mounted a statewide effort to sow doubts concerning the 2020 election, administered a “high quality, clear election,” the report discovered.
The county’s elections administrator since 2018, Heider Garcia, stated Monday night that he was happy with the findings.
“It exhibits that voters in Tarrant county can belief the method that we have now and could be assured within the outcomes of the elections,” stated Garcia, who was the topic of harassment on social media from extremists alleging widespread voter fraud in Texas.
Garcia added that Collin County, which the report thought-about a “mannequin” of how Texas elections needs to be run, may maybe provide some instruments to additional enhance Tarrant County’s elections. Each counties are within the Dallas-Fort Price space.
The report famous that information from all of the counties had inside inconsistencies, or a number of sources of data for a similar information. Dallas County, for instance, offered auditors with 4 sources of information exhibiting mail-ballot statistics, and all confirmed completely different numbers of rejected mail-in ballots. The county additionally struggled with “phantom voters,” the place some voters who checked in had been registered underneath completely different names within the digital pollbook.
Dallas County elections officers couldn’t be reached for remark Monday.
The report findings are more likely to function prominently when the Texas legislature begins assembly early subsequent 12 months. Scott has routinely stated his aim with the audits was to revive confidence within the electoral course of — an method that has prompted criticism from voting rights teams however plaudits from native elections officers who’ve been besieged by harassment on account of voter fraud myths.
Scott, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott late final 12 months, introduced earlier this month that he’ll step down from the place on the finish of 2022. Abbott has since stated he’ll nominate retiring state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, to exchange Scott as secretary of state — a place that requires affirmation by the Texas Senate.
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full list of them here.
