Editor's note: This article has been updated to include quotes and statements from elections officials and nonprofit leaders.
The Texas Secretary of State's office has launched an audit of 2020 election results in four of Texas’ largest counties: Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin.
In a statement released Sept. 23, the office said it anticipates the state Legislature will fund the process.
“Under existing Texas laws, the secretary of state has the authority to conduct a full and comprehensive forensic audit of any election and has already begun the process in Texas’ two largest Democrat counties and two largest Republican counties—Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin—for the 2020 election,” the statement said.
The announcement did not include a reason for the audit. However, hours before it was posted to the secretary of state’s website, a public letter to Gov. Greg Abbott from former President Donald Trump alleged voter fraud in some Texas counties.
In it, Trump said time is “running out” for an official investigation into the 2020 election results and demanded Abbott conduct a comprehensive forensic audit. There has been no evidence of voter fraud in the state election. Texas’ 38 electoral college votes went to Trump, who won the state by 52.6%, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Sam Taylor, assistant secretary of state for communications, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Texas' 2020 election was "above reproach," Grace Chimene, president of League of Women Voters of Texas, said in a Sept. 24 statement. She pointed to a recent testimony by the Secretary of State's office in which it said the the process was "smooth and secure."
"These reviews are a waste of state resources and taxpayer money. They undermine the hard work of county election officials and workers. They are aimed at ripping our election process apart and undermining our democratic foundation," Chimene said, noting that similar exercises in several other states have uncovered no evidence of voter fraud.
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