Texas State Representative Files Bill Calling for Forensic Election Audit

A Republican State Representative announced on Monday that he filed a bill in the Texas State House last week calling for a forensic audit of the 2020 election results in 13 of the state’s largest counties.

State Rep. Steve Toth (R-Woodlands) introduced HB. 241, the Texas Voter Confidence Act, which calls for the appointment of an independent auditor to investigate election results in any Texas county with a population greater than 415,000, as The Texan reported:

“Prior to the special session, I met with constituents across District 15 in South Montgomery County. The Texas Voter Confidence Act is a product of those meetings and a direct request from the voters who sent me to Austin,” Toth said. “Texans want to know more about the claims of voter fraud and deserve to have confidence in their elections.” The two-page bill would require an “independent third party” appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the Texas House to conduct a forensic audit of the general elections in counties with populations of more than 415,000 residents, which would cover 13 counties. The audit would have to begin by November 1 and be complete by February 1 of next year. Toth highlighted the instances of voter fraud that have been prosecuted by Attorney General Ken Paxton. While occurrences of fraud alleged by state officials are few in comparison to the total number of votes cast in Texas, the attorney general’s election integrity unit reported at a hearing in March that there are 510 alleged offenses against 43 defendants currently pending prosecution. In addition, there are almost 400 election fraud investigations under way. Jonathan White, the chief of the election fraud section, said that prosecutions are at an “all time high.”

The controversial Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Technology and Civic Life spent heavily in key urban counties of the state in Texas in the 2020 election, ostensibly for the purpose of assisting in the administration of the election, as Breitbart News reported:

CTCL Funding of 14 Urban Counties in Texas  in 2020 Election County                    Amount
Dallas                     $15,130,433
Harris                     $9,600,000
Webb                      $2,820,960
Bexar                      $1,900,000
Cameron                $1,853,729
Tarrant                   $1,678,522
Travis                      $1,144,709
El Paso                      $846,133
Fort Bend                 $506,500
Hays                          $289,075
Williamson              $263,644
Hidalgo                      $196,500
Brooks                          $92,225
Maverick                     $47,075
TOTAL             $36,369,506

The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) released a report Tuesday documenting the $36 million spent in 14 urban counties of Texas in the 2020 election by the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL). Dallas County was the biggest recipient of CTCL funding among the 14 urban counties in the state, receiving more than $15 million. Thirteen other counties received the remaining $21 million of CTCL funding, including Harris County (Houston), which received more than $9 million:

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) called the Texas State Legislature into a special session earlier this month. The Texas House of Representatives has not been able to convene due to lack of a quorum, since 67 Democrat members of the 150 member body fled the state in two chartered jets on July 8 and have been staying in the Washington, D.C. area since their arrival there earlier this month.

Though former President Donald Trump won the state of Texas in the 2020 general election, several conservative public interest law firms have argued that President Joe Biden’s narrow victories in the key battleground states of Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada were powered by the private funding of election administration in those two states by nonprofit organizations that received $419 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan — the Center for Technology and Civic Life and the Center for Election Innovation and Research.

Editor’s Note: At the time of publication, this article referred to Steve Toth as a state senator. He is a state representative. The language has been updated.