The Texas secretary of state’s office announced late Thursday it will audit the results of the 2020 election in the state’s four largest counties, hours after former president Donald Trump called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to conduct one.
The office released a statement Thursday night that asserted the secretary of state has the authority under Texas law “to conduct a full and comprehensive forensic audit of any election” and that it had “already begun the process in Texas’ two largest Democrat counties and two largest Republican counties — Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, and Collin — for the 2020 election.”
“We anticipate the Legislature will provide funds for this purpose,” the statement concluded.
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The statement was attributed to Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the office. The position of Texas secretary of state, who is appointed by the governor, is currently vacant.
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The move in Texas comes as the results of a GOP-backed audit in Arizona are set to be released Friday. Trump, who has for nearly a year baselessly claimed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, has urged various states to conduct audits of the results, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Trump called Arizona Senate president to thank her ‘for pushing to prove any fraud’ in election, emails show
Earlier Thursday, Trump released a letter he had sent to Abbott, claiming that, despite his win in the state, Texans wanted an election audit. Trump pressed Abbott to add a bill for the “Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election” to the state legislature’s third special session agenda.
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“Texas needs you to act now,” Trump wrote, noting that paper ballots in the state are kept only 22 months after the election. “Your citizens don’t trust the election system, and they want your leadership on this issue, which is the number one thing they care about. ... We’re quickly running out of time and it must be done this week.”
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Trump closed by calling on Abbott to “get to the bottom of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!”
President Biden won Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties in 2020, while Trump won Collin County. GOP lawmakers in Texas have been pushing legislation that would require an audit of the 2020 results in Texas’s largest counties, most of which went for Biden.
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