This article has been updated since publication.
Election security has been a chief concern among voters and remains a concern ahead of the 2024 General Election.
In 2023, election security advocates did see a few wins from the capitol. Lawmakers passed legislation to remove Texas from the Electronic Registration Information Center, a controversial interstate voter roll cross-check system.
In addition, lawmakers passed House Bill 1243, which restored illegal voting to a state felony.
Gov. Greg Abbott also vetoed House Bill 3159, which would have allowed the blind to vote online, due to vague wording and the possibility of unintended consequences. While the move brought controversy among Texas lawmakers, the veto was seen as a victory by election integrity advocates.
Nevertheless, citizens are seeking further security for elections.
Texas Scorecard asked all runoff candidates what steps they believe Texas should take to better secure elections.
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Senate District 30
Brent Hagenbuch: “Over a dozen major election integrity bills were passed out of the Texas Senate, but never heard in the House Elections Committee in the last regular session. As a former Republican Party County Chair, I know how important the election code is to maintaining fair elections across the State of Texas. I will, as Senator, consistently vote to strengthen voter roll integrity, expand election audits, and crack down on voter fraud.”
Jace Yarbrough: “If we want Texas to remain a free state that the rest of the nation looks up to, election security must be one of our most important issues. After Americans saw the widespread fraud and legal manipulation of the 2020 election, our legislature passed a strong slate of preventative reforms in the 2021 session. But the best laws are useless in jurisdictions where law enforcement turns a blind eye to violations—so we need to restore to the attorney general’s rightful authority to prosecute election fraud cases.”
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House District 1
Chris Spencer: “We know from the 2020 Presidential election that election security is vital. A systemic failure occurred in 2020 that can’t be repeated. Texas overall does a good job of keeping our elections secure, but we can always do more. I will fight to keep Texas elections secure.”
State Rep. Gary VanDeaver did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 12
Ben Bius: “There are a number of ways to better secure our Texas elections, they include: 1. Return prosecutorial authority for election fraud to the Attorney General of Texas 2. Require proof of citizenship and a state-issued ID to register to vote in Texas 3. Return to hand counted, sequentially numbered paper ballots, and employ block-chain technology to detect tampering 4. Eliminate voting centers and return to precinct level voting only 5. Eliminate the break between early voting and election day in order to minimize fraud, abuse, and chain of custody issues 6. Provide Texas Department of Public Safety protection to Electoral College Members to avoid threats and intimidation and bind them to only vote for the majority vote getter. Additionally, we should elect the Texas Secretary of State so that Texas’ chief election officer is directly responsible to the people, and; Close Primaries in order to minimize the ability of Democrats to influence Republican Primaries by voting for RINOs.”
Trey Wharton did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry
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House District 21
David Covey: “My opponent, Speaker Dade Phelan, turned out almost 3,000 Democrats to push our race into a runoff; we must close our primaries so Democrats cannot meddle in Republican elections. Additionally, we must return power to our Attorney General so that he may prosecute election crimes, and on the county level, local authorities should be barred from implementing unsecure drive through or drop box voting. Securing our elections is paramount to safeguarding our democracy.”
Speaker Dade Phelan did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 29
Jeffrey Barry: “I want to continue to see a requirement for in-person picture ID voting without any options for mail-in ballots. The only exception would be for those that request an absentee ballot. I would also remove the ability to provide a provisional ballot. Voting is a privilege and if those that want to vote don’t care enough about the process to do the work up front then they should not be allowed to vote.”
Alex Kamkar did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 30
AJ Louderback: “On election security, there is no compromise. We must ensure that every legal vote cast is counted and all illegal voting is punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Jeff Bauknight did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 33
Katrina Pierson: “For Texas to take the next step in election security, we need to follow Florida’s lead and pass legislation similar to SB 524, which was passed in 2022. This bill is the gold standard for securing elections and I look forward to working to pass an even stronger, Texas-version in 2025.”
State Rep. Justin Holland did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 44
Alan Schoolcraft: “One of my top priorities is to secure our elections here in Texas! I will work to strengthen our election laws by adding measures to prevent illegal aliens from registering to vote by increasing the Secretary of State or local election admins’ budgets, exclusively to hire staff to research the citizenship of people who register. I will also work to give our attorney general jurisdiction to prosecute election fraud in counties where Soros-backed district attorneys refuse to safeguard our elections. Meanwhile, my opponent voted for an amendment that passed to lower the penalty for illegal voting, this undermines the integrity of our elections.”
State Rep. John Kuempel did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 58
Helen Kerwin: “Given the millions of illegal immigrants who have been flooded into Texas because of the deliberately orchestrated Biden Border Invasion, it is critical that Texas take steps to ensure only citizens are voting in our elections. We should pass a Constitutional Amendment clearly stating that only citizens are allowed to vote and coordinate with the County Elections Department to verify voting rolls and purge anyone for whom citizenship cannot be verified. We also need to ensure those committing voter fraud are rigorously prosecuted by restoring the option to prosecute these crimes under the office of the State Attorney General – especially when we have liberal, Soros-elected District Attorneys who refuse to accept these cases.”
State Rep. DeWayne Burns did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 61
Keresa Richardson: “The constitution of Texas should be amended to require proof of Citizenship before any individual can be registered to vote (Proposition 12). The Texas Constitution should be amended to restore authority to the Texas Attorney General to prosecute election crimes (Proposition 10 and HJR 98). Increase the criminal penalty for the offense of illegal voting (HB 52).”
State Rep. Frederick Frazier did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 64
Andy Hopper: “First, genuinely secure elections require a secure border to help ensure only citizens can vote. Beyond that, I support abandoning opaque and hackable machines, mandating regular universal purging of voter rolls, protecting Texas elections from unconstitutional Federal meddling and interference, limiting early voting, and requiring counties to be transparent to voters and candidates.”
State Rep. Lynn Stucky did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry.
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House District 91
David Lowe: “Election security remains a top issue for voters in District 91. My first two priorities when it comes to reforming Texas elections is closed Primaries and cleaning up our voter rolls.”
State Rep. Stephanie Klick did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry
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House District 97
John McQueeny: “Texas has made significant progress in securing our elections. To build on these achievements, it’s crucial to maintain close communication with election workers and understand their insights on further enhancing election integrity. One potential area for improvement involves implementing a process and legal mandate requiring Election Administrators to verify whether individuals who have declared themselves as non-citizen residents for jury duty have participated in voting. Our legislature must ensure a robust verification process and uphold the sanctity of our electoral system at every turn.”
Cheryl Bean: “Within Tarrant County we are blessed to have three groups actively working together to ensure the security of our local elections: Citizens Defending Election Integrity (CDEI), County Judge Tim O’Hare’s task force, and District Attorney’s Election Integrity Team. After an audit of the 2022 elections, a list of 7 improvements has been identified by CDEI and our County Judge is working towards incorporating most of them. This includes pre-numbering ballots at each polling site for traceability which became such a hot topic this week at the Commissioners’ Court. However, this is not the case in other Texas cities nor across the country. Secure elections are not achievable as long as we continue to depend upon the electronic voting machines and corresponding software that allow electronic tampering of the results that near impossible to trace. Furthermore, we have to enforce poll-watchers access at every step to observe the voting, collection, and tallying of votes at every stage of the process.”
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