Disclosure: The author is a signatory on the coalition letter discussed below.
A coalition of over 100 grassroots organizations has sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, requesting an immediate special legislative session on two issues related to election integrity.
The letter requests legislation to create an independent state-level authority to prosecute crimes related to election integrity. This has become necessary because of a 2021 ruling, Texas v. Stevens, that removed long-standing authority to prosecute election crimes from the Office of the Attorney General. Absent this authority, local district attorneys are the only offices that can prosecute these crimes. Given that local DAs are sometimes believed to benefit from the alleged crimes, activists feel that they are not likely to prosecute them.
In addition, the letter calls for proof of citizenship for new voter registrations and a thorough examination of existing voter rolls to remove non-citizens and other ineligible registrations. While this has been a longstanding activist priority, it has taken on new urgency following a recent report in the New York Post that the Biden administration is actively registering illegal aliens ahead of the 2024 election.
The letter continues:
Texas is unlikely to have effective enforcement of election law in the largest counties in 2024 without this legislation. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz need our assistance!
Recently passed improvements to the law (enabling removal of recalcitrant prosecutors) are worthwhile, but due to long lead times and narrow removal criteria, these improvements will not work to address the looming 2024 problem.
It is no secret that in certain counties, Texans cannot rely on local prosecutors to enforce the rule of law!
Concerned Texans may contact the Office of the Governor at (512) 463-2000 or respond through this webform.
This is a commentary published with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.
