The Texas secretary of state’s office announced Thursday it would carry out an election audit in four of the state’s largest counties.
The office said contests administered in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, and Collin counties are under review and that it expects the state Legislature will “provide funds for this purpose.”
“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,” the office said in a statement.
The announcement follows a request from former President Donald Trump to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott earlier Thursday, asking him to support a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election in Texas — a state that Trump carried in the presidential election.
“Despite my big win in Texas, I hear Texans want an election audit!” Trump said in a letter to Abbott.
Trump urged Abbott to lead on more election reform and touted HB 16, a bill recently introduced in the Texas House of Representatives.
“This legislation specifically addresses the 2020 Presidential Election, and enables audits for future elections,” Trump said in a statement. “The bill creates a process for candidates and party chairs to initiate an audit, and uses the same language as SB 97, which already passed the Texas State Senate, but did not have enough time to make it through the House during the Second Special Session.”
The election reviews put Texas in the company of Arizona, Wisconsin , and Pennsylvania, each of which currently have audit efforts underway.
Auditors in Arizona overseeing the country’s most high-profile election audit are scheduled to deliver their findings to the Republican-led state Senate on Friday.
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