Texas Governor Greg Abbott has claimed that voter fraud is occurring in Houston after a judge ordered a new election in Harris County.
This Texas judge found that more than 1,400 votes were cast illegally. As a result, a retrial for the election has been ordered. Abbott has used this situation to claim that voter fraud is occurring in Houston — and elsewhere.
Harris County’s Judicial Race
After finding that more than 1,400 votes were illegally cast, Judge David Peeples ordered Harris County to hold a new election for its November 2022 180th District Court judicial race.
This race two years ago saw Democrat DaSean Jones beat out Republican candidate Tami Pierce by less than 450 votes.
A Republican Fight
Since GOP election losses in 2022, many Republican candidates who lost filed lawsuits challenging the authenticity of the results. Pierce was one of 22 candidates who filed these lawsuits.
Judge Peeples has, thus far, upheld election results in 20 of these Republican cases. However, Peeples has now ruled that an election must be had once again because of the small number of votes between Jones and Pierce — and the 1,400 illegal votes that were found.
It’s Unclear Who These Votes Were For
However, it has also been noted that it’s unclear who, exactly, these votes were cast for. There’s no indication that these 1,400 illegal votes were only cast for one person.
There’s also no indication that any of them went to the Democrat winner of this election, Jones. As a result, there’s a possibility many of these votes could have also gone to the Republican candidate, Pierce.
How These Illegal Votes Occurred
These invalid votes also didn’t occur by any nefarious means to rig an election, as some Republicans may insist.
Instead, Peeples has revealed that many of these illegal votes occurred because of residency-related issues. Some of these voters resided outside of Harris County, where the election took place.
Other Invalid Issues
The majority of these votes, about 983 of them, became invalid because of these various residency-related problems.
However, around 445 voters also did not successfully offer valid photo identification before they cast their votes. Meanwhile, 48 of these illegal votes occurred because mail-in ballots did not have signatures, or they were not received before the deadline.
Abbott Calls Out Alleged Voter Fraud in Houston
Now, Greg Abbott has taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call out this alleged voter fraud that happened in Houston. The Texas governor also insinuated that voter fraud “especially” happens in Houston, rather than elsewhere.
In a post on X, Abbott wrote, “Voter fraud is real. Especially in Houston. ‘The court has found that 1,430 illegal votes were cast in the race for the 180th District Court.’ The Judge hearing the case ordered a redo of the election. We must end voter fraud.”
Republicans and Election Fraud
Ever since former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden, many Republicans have claimed that voter fraud is a real issue in the United States.
Texas Governor Abbott’s latest comments seemingly continue this line of thinking in an already tense election year.
Trump’s 2024 Moves
Some analysts have already warned that, if Trump loses to Biden again this November, the former president and his supporters may once again claim that the election was rigged — without any evidence to back it up.
Though invalid votes, such as mail-in votes not properly signed, do occur, there has never been proof that voter fraud has happened in an election to make one candidate win over the other.
The RNC’s Push for Election Integrity
Abbott’s comments on Houston’s election redo also come as the Republican National Committee (RNC) has recently announced that they will launch a swing state initiative to place thousands of people in voting spots this November to help with “election integrity.”
However, many critics have already blasted this move, as they’re worried that these alleged watchdogs could lead to election workers being harassed.
Responses to Abbott
Abbott’s post on X about this alleged voter fraud in Houston brought about a lot of engagement and over 1,000 replies.
While many of the replies supported what Abbott was saying, others criticized the governor and accused him of trying to make this story into something that it isn’t.
Abbott’s Supporters
However, a lot of people on X still supported Abbott’s discussion, which resulted in many conservatives calling out liberals. One user posted, “Democrats always have been cheaters.”
Meanwhile, another X user wrote, “Yet none of you have done anything about it but post on here and blow smoke. Why don’t you actually hold someone accountable and do something about it.”
