Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday called on the state legislature to pass bills aimed at preventing election officials from relaxing election rules and processes without authorization.
The Lone Star State governor stressed that without measures to tighten election integrity laws across the state, election officials could “jeopardize” the election process by presenting opportunities for people to commit voter fraud.
“Whether it’s the unauthorized expansion of mail-in ballots or the unauthorized expansion of drive-thru voting, we must pass laws to prevent election officials from jeopardizing the election process,” Abbott told reporters at a press conference.
“Our objective in Texas is to ensure that every eligible voter gets to vote and that only eligible ballots are counted,” he said. “In the 2020 election, we witnessed actions throughout our state that could risk the integrity of our elections and enable voter fraud, which is why I made election integrity an emergency item this session.”
Election integrity came to the forefront of the nation’s attention when the November 2020 election was followed by a series of allegations of irregularities and election fraud. Former President Donald Trump and his allies challenged the Nov. 3 election results in courts, alleging that illegal votes were cast and counted in several swing states due to alleged voter fraud and relaxed election regulations that were changed by state executives without going through state legislatures.
Republicans immediately challenged the ballots cast at drive-thru polling sites in state and federal courts before Nov. 3 but the cases were dismissed in both jurisdictions. The state court dismissed the case without comment, while the federal court dismissed the case saying there was a lack of standing. The 5th Circuit Court also denied to hear an appeal.
Abbott also took issue with how Harris County election officials also attempted to send unsolicited mail-in ballot applications to over two million of voters, including individuals who would not be eligible to vote-by-mail. The Texas Supreme Court ruled that the county officials were not authorized to send out unsolicited mail-in ballot applications and blocked them from doing so.
“Election officials should be working to stop potential mail ballot fraud—not facilitate it,” he said.
Abbott was joined by Sen. Paul Bettencourt and Rep. Briscoe Cain during the press conference. Both state legislators are vocal on this issue and have proposed several pieces of legislation to enhance election integrity in the state.
“I think uniformity is what we need in Texas. So, rural voters coming home from work at the same access as urban voters,” Bettencourt said, adding that he does not think it would infringe on other aspects voting rights.
“The only form of voter suppression is when an illegitimate voter, an illegible voter, casts a ballot,” Cain added during the press conference. “When an ineligible voter casts their ballot, they’re actually silencing the voice of an American citizen.”
Harris County officials responded to the criticism and bill proposal, calling their own press conference.
The two bills that are currently being discussed include House Bill 6 and Senate Bill 7. Both laws seek to ensure uniformity in election rules and processes throughout the state.
“We don’t want to be Venezuela,” he said. “We don’t want to be another country where people don’t trust the elections, where there’s really no reason to go vote if you don’t know if the integrity of the elections is good.”
Paxton played a prominent role following voter fraud allegations in November. He led Texas’s legal efforts to challenge election results in four battleground states before the U.S. Supreme Court, which was later dismissed due to lack of standing.
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