The Texas Secretary of State (SOS) on Thursday announced that Cameron, Eastland, Guadalupe and Harris counties were chosen for the 2020-2022 election audit cycle that will immediately begin after the November 2022 election.
Remi Garza, elections administrator for Cameron County, said he received an email from the state that the state would be conducting a random drawing for audits that were to be conducted and received a telephone call Thursday that Cameron County had been selected.
“I think this is a great opportunity to be one of the first counties to undergo this process. It's an opportunity to learn where our strengths are and hopefully build public confidence in the election system here in Cameron County, and at the same time identify any weaknesses that we have so that we can correct them and provide a better service to the public,” Garza said.
In 2021, the SOS office, with help of the Texas Legislature, established the Forensic Audit Division which requires the office to conduct an audit of the elections held in four randomly selected counties during the previous two years.
According to the SOS, the mission of the Forensic Audit Division is to ascertain whether election laws and procedures were properly followed; attempt to determine the causes of any discrepancies in vote counting or tabulation; and identify opportunities for enhanced efficiency and security in Texas election administration.
The Forensic Audit Division was made possible by Sec. 127.351 that called for randomized county audits, which requires the following immediately after the uniform election date in November of an even-numbered year, the secretary of state shall conduct an audit of the elections held in four counties during the previous two years.
It also states the SOS shall select the counties to be audited under Subsection (a) at random, except that
- Two of the counties selected must have a total population of less than 300,000;
- Two of the counties selected must have a total population of 300,000 or more; and
- A county selected in the most recent audit cycle may not be selected in the current audit cycle.
The Full Forensic Election Audit of the 2020 general election called for testing for voting machines accuracy, cybersecurity assessments, and identifying and removing ineligible voters who cast ballots in 2020. In addition, it called the examination of voting records.
Counties included in the 2020 audit were Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin counties.
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