Texas announced Thursday that it was conducting a “comprehensive forensic audit” of the 2020 presidential election in several of its largest counties.
The secretary of state’s office posted a statement Thursday evening, just hours after former President Donald Trump demanded that the state conduct such an audit.
Mr. Trump won Texas in the 2020 presidential race.
The elections office said in its statement that state law already gives it “the authority to conduct a full and comprehensive forensic audit of any election.”
The statement said, without providing details, 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,” said the statement, attributed to spokesman Sam Taylor.
The secretary of state position, a rare governor-appointed office in the state, is now vacant.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump released a letter he had sent to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott saying that his state’s people wanted a forensic audit of the election and said the state legislature should pass one in a special session.
“Texas needs you to act now,” Mr. Trump wrote. “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.”
His letter ended by saying that Mr. Abbott should “get to the bottom of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!”
Source:Washington Times
