Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2021
CONTACT: press@secure-democracy.org
Secure Democracy: Don’t Mess With Texas Election Results
S.B. 97 would undermine confidence in Texas voting systems, cost Texas taxpayers unknown sums of money, and create unnecessary chaos
AUSTIN, TX - In reaction to the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee passing S.B. 97, as well as its identical companion bill (H.B. 244) being filed in the House today, Secure Democracy issued the following statement:
“Any attempt by the Texas legislature to undermine the integrity of Texas elections should be rejected,” said Sarah Walker, executive director of Secure Democracy. “S.B. 97 as written would allow any partisan actor to question the verified results of an election and initiate a duplicative review of the election results. This would inject more partisanship and weaken voters’ trust in Texas elections. If passed, this bill has the potential to be far more costly for taxpayers and generate much more chaos than the recent politically-motivated election investigation in Arizona. Texas is a state where Republicans won decisively and where elections were deemed fair and secure, so the only outcome of this legislation is to cast a dark shadow over voters’ trust in Texas elections.”
What you need to know:
Texas already has a good process to verify election results. In the 2021 regular session, Secure Democracy strongly supported S.B. 598, which requires counties to participate in risk-limiting audits and creates auditable paper trails for Texas elections. The bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Abbott. Secure Democracy strongly believes that this is the right solution to verify election results, as it has been tried and tested in other states.
S.B. 97 would allow any candidate or political party chair to initiate an unneeded review of future election results as well as retroactively reviewing the 2020 election. The legislation is broad and mandates that county election officials spend time and resources to review results of any election that any candidate officially requests.
S.B. 97 would be worse than the Maricopa County election review. Unlike the election review in Maricopa County, AZ, which focused on just two races in one county, S.B. 97 would allow losing candidates to initiate politically-motivated reviews of election results in any number of counties and cost Texas taxpayers unknown sums of money.
S.B. 97 is the latest attempt to undermine local election officials. Election administrators and workers across the country, including in Texas, have been subject to increased pressure and threats since the 2020 elections. S.B. 97 would add to this trend as it seeks to undermine Texas election officials’ ability to carry out their duties and conduct fair elections.
Texas voters have been clear that they reject attempts to inject partisan influence in elections. According to a July 2021 statewide poll conducted by Ragnar Research for Secure Democracy, 90% of Texans believe state lawmakers should take steps to protect their elections from partisan interference. S.B. 97 would instead inject more partisanship and chaos in Texas elections.
Many Republicans and local election officials have rejected politically motivated election reviews across the country. From Florida to Texas to Arizona, Republicans and local election officials are rejecting calls for and warning against starting more wasteful, politically-motivated Arizona-style election reviews. Secure Democracy has compiled a list of statements on this topic here.
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Secure Democracy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to improve election integrity across the United States. They educate policymakers and the public about what it takes to safeguard our voting system, and collaborate with state leaders, election administrators, election integrity experts, and allies to ensure that all eligible citizens have the freedom to vote how they choose, of justice, equality and the common good. Online at secure-democracy.org.