Despite a humiliating setback in the bizarre Arizona vote audit which resulted in a 360-vote increase in President Joe Biden’s margin of victory, Donald Trump is doubling down on his ‘Big Lie’ and demanding a similar audit in Texas even though he won the state by 630,000 votes.
Gov. Greg Abbott, apparently wary of angering conspiracy-minded Trump fanatics, swiftly capitulated to Trump’s request. The Texas secretary of state’s office quickly announced an election audit in Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties. President Biden won Harris, Dallas and Tarrant counties. Donald Trump won Collin county. The situation is especially curious given that the secretary of state’s director of elections, Keith Ingram, earlier assured Texas legislators of a “smooth and secure” 2020 election.
Texas Democrats quickly condemned the “forensic audit.” Harris County Judge Lina Hildalgo told the Houston Chronicle,“this does not deserve to be treated as a serious matter or serious audit,” Hidalgo said. “It is an irresponsible political trick. It is a sham. It is a cavalier and dangerous assault on voters and democracy.” Hidalgo told the Texas Tribune that “every time we engage in a conversation about these false allegations, we’re lending credence to the lie.”
“The conspiracy theorists who want to come up with all these ways or reasons why this election wasn’t right — they might very well find something else [to doubt],” said Republican Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley in the Texas Tribune. “It’s time to move on.”
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee added that the timing of the secretary of state’s announcement soon after Trump pressured the governor shows the audit is being done in “bad faith.”
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, was even more blunt in his remarks to the Tribune: “This is a weak Governor openly and shamelessly taking his orders from a disgraced former President. Governor Abbott is wasting taxpayer funds to trample on Texans’ freedom to vote, all in order to appease his puppeteer.”
There have been few details released about the audit, even to elections officials. Houston Chronicle reporter Zach Despart tweeted on Saturday that “we still don’t know who authorized this, what it entails & how much it will cost because @GovAbbott & the sec of state’s office won’t answer.”
The Arizona election audit was conducted by Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm with no relevant election experience, save one: the chief executive officer had tweeted support for conspiracy theories claiming Republican Donald Trump had won Maricopa County and the state of Arizona. Apparently, blind fealty to Donald Trump is the sole litmus test in today’s Republican party, hence a rapid acquiesce to the never-ending 2020 election delusion perpetrated by Trump and dangerously enabled by servile Republican leadership.
