Election security is expected to receive attention from lawmakers in the Capitol when they meet beginning next month. It is a legislative priority for the Republican Party of Texas.
Earlier this year, as the March primary election began to heat up, school principals and district administrators started to send emails encouraging employees to vote for anti-school choice candidates.
Two administrators in the Denton Independent School District—Jesus and Lindsay Lujan, a married couple—were accused of using the district’s email system to send messages to school staff that incentivized voting in the Republican primary for candidates who “support public education and school funding.” A citizen’s complaint led to criminal prosecution, marking the first time Texas school officials have been held criminally liable for using district resources to electioneer. In August, the two admitted they were guilty but didn’t face any criminal penalties.
Frisco ISD also came under fire for three posts made by the Frisco ISD Government Affairs Facebook page in which individuals were encouraged to “vote for candidates who support public schools and, apparently, who are against vouchers.” As a result of the posts, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the district for repeatedly using official resources for illegal electioneering purposes.
Paxton also went after several other districts accused of electioneering, including Hutto, Denton, Denison, Castleberry, Huffman, and Aledo.
In June, Republican Party of Texas delegates made securing Texas elections the second RPT legislative priority, adding 10 reforms Republicans would like to see the legislature pass.
The reforms include:
- requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote,
- requiring counties and the secretary of state to update voter rolls at least quarterly,
- requiring a mandatory photo ID for every election without exception,
- restricting mail-in ballots to disabled, military, and eligible citizens who are out of their counties for the entire voting period,
- using only hand-marked, sequentially numbered paper ballots on anti-counterfeiting paper that are signed on the back by the election official at the voting location,
- standardizing in-person voting, with early voting limited to a period of no longer than nine (9) days, no gap before Election Day, and assigned-precinct voting locations only,
- counting ballots in-precinct using a dumb-scanner method as soon as they are returned by voters and with publication of the results prior to submission to the county,
- restricting party primary voting eligibility to registered Republicans,
- explicitly codifying the ability of the attorney general to prosecute violations of the election code, and
- removing existing secretary of state waivers to comply with the current election code.
In June, an advisory from the Texas secretary of state stated that the office had revised the standards for certification of an electronic pollbook system, adding that those “systems are now required to use ballot numbering methods that do not involve the use of the electronic pollbook system or peripherals that are directly connected to those systems.”
Texas has laws in place to ensure election integrity, including Senate Bill 1 passed in 2021, which bans paid voter harvesting, requires a voter ID number on mail-in ballots, and requires voter assistants to complete a form and take an oath. However, a federal judge has blocked certain provisions of the law.
District Judge Xavier Rodriguez issued an order in October permanently enjoining the state and county officials from investigating or prosecuting violations of “voter assistance.” He also blocked the enforcement of Texas’ paid voter harvesting ban.
Another issue of concern is noncitizen voting.
In October, members of the Texas Senate’s State Affairs Committee heard testimony from elections experts and election integrity advocates on ways to prevent non-U.S. citizens from voting and how to identify noncitizens currently on the voter rolls.
The Secretary of State’s Elections Director Christina Adkins told senators that the most useful tool for identifying noncitizens is a data-sharing program with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which collects proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful presence from every person issued a license or state ID.
Several witnesses also provided possible solutions for stopping noncitizen voting. Requiring proof of citizenship on voter applications was cited as a top priority by most.
Lawmakers have already begun filing legislation to fulfill citizens’ requests for action.
In December, State Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson (R-Galveston) proposed a constitutional amendment that would explicitly grant the attorney general the authority “to prosecute a criminal offense prescribed by the election laws of this state,” years after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals argued that the Texas Constitution gives district and county attorneys exclusive authority to prosecute criminal cases, including those relating to statewide elections.
Advancing Integrity, a grassroots organization that strives to “fix what is broken in the election codes and laws, demand transparency throughout the election process, and hold election officials accountable,” has listed legislative priorities that it hopes will pass the Legislature.
The first of Advancing Integrity’s priorities is creating uniform elections, in part by getting rid of countywide polling, closing primaries, and creating consistent dates for when elections are held.
Its second priority is adding more civil and criminal penalties and enhancing the ones already on the books to deter negligence and criminal behavior. This includes creating elections courts that would hold election officials, poll workers, vote harvesters, and others involved in the election process liable if they break the election code.
Lastly, Advancing Integrity is calling for protecting the election process by ensuring only legal U.S. citizens can vote, stopping ranked-choice voting, and protecting all ballots with two signature verifications for every step of the process.
Advancing Integrity President Christine Welborn told Texas Scorecard that Texans have a right to secure elections, and lawmakers need to create legislation to ensure that right.
“Texans have a right to secure elections, but right now our election code is broken. We need legislation that simplifies and adds uniformity to our elections while ensuring accuracy and accountability,” said Welborn. “Our election laws are worthless if we cannot enforce them and hold our election officials accountable.”
“During this legislative session we will focus on uniform elections, enforcement, and protecting the security of the process,” she concluded.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation has also listed solutions to the problem of school electioneering that could be considered for the 89th Legislative Session, including enabling the Office of the Attorney General to institute criminal prosecutions of election law violations in district courts.
It also recommended requiring any school official found guilty of electioneering to be subject to termination without severance or extended benefits, making electioneering-related criminal violations a state jail felony, and imposing added penalties such as a spending freeze or additional training requirements for school districts caught repeatedly engaging in electioneering activities.
