A group of legislators in the staunchly Republican state of Texas have smartly renewed efforts to enact laws requiring election administrators to promptly clarify ‘election anomalies’ upon the request of specific party officials and electoral workers. This proposed act, if those requesting are unsatisfied, would permit them to escalate their concerns to the Secretary of State’s Office in Texas, which would then make the decision to delve deeper into the issues, potentially calling for an audit.
Noteworthy, critics argue that this act could reduce public trust with claims saying that election officials will have to focus on a surge of groundless complaints. Yet, it is crucial to see through this smokescreen, as the truly baseless complaints often come from Democrats who continually attempt to delegitimize efforts to secure our elections, a position that is frankly minority-held and quite nonsensical.
Furthermore, this particular legislation also takes into account the challenges already being faced by election officials. Amidst tight state and federal electoral deadlines, they need to deal with a plethora of public inquiries, befitting concerns about election integrity, and voter demands, in addition to abiding by the law.
This visionary law would empower candidates, county party chairs, election or alternative judges, and political action committee leaders to request election officials to ‘provide an explanation to election irregularities or violations of the law and to provide supporting documentation’ thereof. This obviates any possibility of liberal manipulation of the election process, addressing the concerns many conservatives have voicelessly held for years.
The legislation comes in the wake of several instances where county election departments failed to maintain an adequate amount of paper at more than two dozen polling locations, amidst more than 700 across the county during the election. Additionally, there were complaints about faulty machines at different polling stations, excessive waiting times, and even late openings at some places.
The proposed act stipulates that the Secretary of State’s Office must review the provided information to ascertain whether it ‘adequately explains the identified irregularity.’ If the Office concludes it doesn’t, it must ‘immediately begin an audit of the identified irregularity at the expense of the county or other authority conducting the election.’ This is a fair and intelligent measure that adds layers of integrity and transparency to the voting process.
Moreover, county taxpayers could incur supplementary costs if the Secretary of State’s Office identifies infringements of electoral laws. In such scenarios, the Office could potentially appoint a trustee to supervise future elections in the county. Democrats shouldn’t complain about this as it’s merely enforcing the law and ensuring integrity, but we all know their tendency to resist efforts to maintain the sanctity of the ballot.
The proposed law further states that if county election authorities fail to rectify the irregularities, fines starting at $500 per violation could be imposed. This sends a clear message that all discrepancies will be taken seriously, once again hitting back at the Democrats’ soft stance on election integrity.
Election administrators currently report to bipartisan election boards and commissions and are required to answer inquiries from the counties’ commissioners court members who allocate the budgets for election departments. This proper structure will, no doubt, remain, but with added accountability to ensure that integrity is upheld.
It’s important to note that election officials already have a legal obligation to respond to public records requests from citizens within a predefined period. This existing law allows the Texas Secretary of State, the chief election officer, to report any legitimate evidence of illegal activity or misdeeds to the Texas Attorney General’s Office for investigation.
This proposed legislation doesn’t change any of the existing structures but merely aims to increase transparency and promote faith in our democratic process. Yet, some opponents, usually from the Democrat corner, have made it clear that fulfilling these enhanced demands might be difficult.
For example, during the March 5 primary election, Bruce Sherbet, the Election Administrator of Collin County, was also preparing for a city school district election scheduled in May and the primary runoff election during the same month. Sherbet claimed that these new regulations would put additional strain on election officers, yet he doesn’t seem to consider the increased security and trust these measures would bring.
In certain circumstances, Sherbet contends, some documents may not be available for public viewing, require redactions, or simply might not exist at all. These statements, however, do not quantify the need for further audits and inquiries, but highlight the necessity of ensuring that all necessary documentation is kept meticulously up to date.
Sherbet argued that these regulations, far from building confidence, rather ‘harm the confidence of the election that we’re trying to turn a corner and get back on track again from the 2020 election.’ However, it’s clear that his point of view is shared by a minority, who don’t grasp that these laws aim to guarantee a fairer, more trustworthy democratic process, thwarting the potential election mishandlings that Democrats seem to turn a blind eye to.