Senator files bill to make voter fraud claims public
AUSTIN — The Texas secretary of state’s office has sent 443 allegations of voter fraud to the state attorney general’s office for investigation since 2002. Just don’t ask about them.
To the dismay of some state lawmakers, the secretary of state’s office will not release what one Democratic senator called “basic information” on allegations of voter fraud.
Just down the road, however, the Attorney General’s office makes much of the information public.
Now, an Austin lawmaker has filed a bill to require the secretary of state’s office to divulge additional information about voter fraud allegations.
“The idea that you can’t tell the public the number of complaints requires some really contorted logic,” Sen. Kirk Watson said.
A spokesman for the secretary of state’s office said the attorney general’s office can exercise “prosecutorial discretion” when it comes to deciding what information should be made available to the public.
‘Very basic information’
The secretary of state’s office, however, relies on a provision of the Texas Election Code that says such allegations are not public information unless the office decides a complaint does not warrant an investigation or the investigation by the attorney general has been completed, spokesman Sam Taylor said.
If passed, Watson’s bill would require the secretary of state to divulge the number of complaints it has referred to the attorney general, the types of allegations, when investigations are completed and the number of complaints dismissed.
“When all you’re asking for is very basic information — the number of complaints, the number of referrals, and the general nature of the complaints — that ought to be made public,” Watson said.
The attorney general’s office has received 443 voter fraud referrals from the secretary of state’s office since 2002, according to records obtained in February. Referrals from the secretary of state make up 63 percent of the 703 voter fraud allegations received by the attorney general’s office in that time. The records do not include identifying information about the person accused of an election violation, but they do include a description of the allegation, the election involved and the date of the secretary of state’s referral.
The attorney general’s office has prosecuted 93 cases of alleged of voter fraud, according to data going back to 2005. Eight of those were dismissed.
The dispute over the public release of information began last month in Senate Nominations committee hearing. Secretary of State Rolando Pablos told Watson and other lawmakers, “There is voter fraud in Texas, and we’re doing everything we can to prevent it.”
Adding uniformity
When Watson asked Pablos to provide the committee with information about the number and nature of voter fraud complaints his office had received, the secretary agreed to release those details if lawmakers signed nondisclosure agreements.
“Making claims of voter fraud is very serious, and the public has a right to know why the highest ranking elections official would make statements like that,” Watson said.
Sens. Van Taylor, RPlano, and José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, also promised to fight the nondisclosure agreements.
Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said Watson’s bill would add some uniformity to the way agencies interpret the election code.
“Certainly, if there’s an allegation of voter fraud, and it’s something that’s before the (Legislature), the public has a right to know about it,” Shannon said. “We don’t need information being kept secret that deals with our election system and the validity of our election system.”