While the special legislative session in Austin is still frozen after Democrats fled for Washington, D.C., to avoid voting on election integrity legislation, a newly filed bill would subject the 2020 election in Texas to a forensic audit.
Dubbed the “Texas Voter Confidence Act,” House Bill 241 by State Rep. Steve Toth (R–The Woodlands) would authorize the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House to select an independent third party to conduct an election audit. The forensic audit would focus on the votes cast in the 13 most populous counties in Texas.
Those counties would include Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant, Travis, Collin, Denton, Hidalgo, Fort Bend, El Paso, Montgomery, Williamson, and Cameron.
“We need a forensic audit to uncover all the voter fraud,” said Toth.
“Texans want to know more about the claims of voter fraud and deserve to have confidence in their elections. The Office of the Attorney General has prosecuted over 500 election fraud cases and is investigating 400 more. Voters want to know that their legal vote counts and matters,” he added.
If passed into law, the audit would be directed to begin by November 1, 2021, and be completed by February 1, 2022.
With House Democrats out of the state and no end in sight to their escape, the bill’s path to law appears uphill. There are currently 20 days left in the 30-day special session, after which all bills would die and need to be refiled. Gov. Greg Abbott, however, has indicated he will call lawmakers back for multiple special sessions.
