Texas, Spurred By Trump, Announces Election Audit in 4 Counties

Eight and a half hours after former President Donald J. Trump made a public demand for Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas to back legislation to create a “forensic audit of the 2020 election,” the Texas secretary of state’s office announced a “comprehensive forensic audit” of the results from four of the state’s largest counties.

The quick response by state officials in Texas, which Mr. Trump carried last year by more than five percentage points, was the latest example of the former president’s enduring influence over the Republican Party, particularly when it comes to his efforts to undermine public confidence in the legitimacy of his loss last year to President Biden.

“Governor Abbott, we need a ‘Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election,’” In an open letter to Mr. Abbott, Mr. Trump stated the following: “Texans know voting fraud occurred in some of their counties.”

Texas is currently without a secretary of state, after the May retirement of Ruth Ruggero Hughs. Republican Mr. Abbott has yet to appoint his successor.

The office issued a two-sentence statement late on Thursday, stating that it would be reviewing ballots from 2020 elections in Collin and Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, and Tarrant counties. The news release called those counties the “two largest Democrat counties and two largest Republican counties” in the state, but of the four, only Collin County backed Mr. Trump against Mr. Biden in the 2020 election. According to the statement, the audit process had already started.

Trump-aligned Republicans across America have tried to replicate the Arizona Republicans’ efforts to review more than 2,000,000 ballots in Maricopa County. An ex-Judge of Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court is looking into the results and stated Monday that an audit of the ballots was possible. Pennsylvania Republicans last week sought driver’s license data and Social Security numbers for every voter in the state as part of an inquiry into the 2020 election there.

The reviews have not revealed any evidence of fraud in or irregularities in the counting of votes. They have raised concerns about the use public resources to investigate Republican conspiracies.

No serious allegations have been made that the Texas election was flawed.

Texas Democrats called the audit the latest attempt by Mr. Abbott and the state’s Republicans to cater to Mr. Trump.

“This is all an organized effort to overturn the will of the people in an effort to fuel the ‘Big Lie’ and stroke Trump’s ego,” Gilberto Hinojosa was the chairman for the Texas Democratic Party.

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