s Lawmaker Says Election Audits Will Be as Popular As Voter ID //

A Texas senator who supported legislation to establish election audits within the Lone Star State said he expects such audits to become as commonplace as voter identification.

In 2006, he visited Washington to testify in support voter ID before the House Administration Committee. The hearing room was packed “because it’s a flashpoint”, state Senator Paul Bettencourt recalls.

“Now, everyone knows that photo ID doesn’t stop turnout. “In fact, there is no instance in the United States where a state has adopted it that has had a problem turning out,” Bettencourt, a Republican, stated Thursday during a panel discussion at The Heritage Foundation. (The Daily Signal, Heritage’s multimedia news agency, is featured.

The Texas lawmaker stated that “this [election] audit situation” is the same thing. “In the future it will be commonplace and everyone is going to agree with that, but it will take time.”

The Texas Legislature passed a reform to the election law. It also established a forensic auditor division within the Texas Secretary of State’s Office. This division oversees elections. Some liberal groups, such as the Brennan Center for Justice have claimed that audits will discourage voter participation and ” sabotage election.”

Panelists at the heritage event stated that auditing is a common practice to ensure confidence in a business’ finances.

The difference between financial audits for an election and one for a business is that voting is by definition partisan and it would be difficult for bipartisan trust to be built, said Charles “Cully”, deputy director of Heritage’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and moderator for the event titled “It’s time to audit: Every state, every election.”

“I’m sure that there are people watching this and saying, “Oh, this state is Republican.” These are Republicans trying to audit and kick Democrats,’ or People should be able to vote,'” Stimson stated.

Similar to what happened in Chicago, Republicans would say if there were an audit of the votes. How can we convince them that they are wrong? How can we make it so that businesspeople view it as part of their business, increasing confidence that the vote was conducted correctly?

Chad Ennis is the director of the Texas Secretary of State John Scott’s forensic audit division. He noted that today’s Republicans are more open to audits following the 2020 presidential election.

Ennis stated that Democrats claimed the election was stolen after the 2016 and 2000 presidential elections.

“The pendulum must swing. That’s what needs to happen. Ennis stated that both sides must go through a series of losses. “Then I think everyone can come to it because it’s something needs to be done. “Regardless of your position, you want fairness.

Hans von Spakovsky, Heritage’s Election Law Reform Initiative manager, stated that the auditor must be able to demonstrate professionalism and adhere to principles.

Von Spakovsky stated that election audits could be a lucrative industry if enough states start to perform them.

“The problem in this area is not in the business sector. Business audits have been done for so many years and are now a standard. He said that there is a large pool of independent auditors who are experienced and can be hired by companies to perform their audit.”

Von Spakovsky stated that there is currently no equivalent for election auditors.

“But if states start requiring the kind of audits that we are all talking about, that industry is quickly going to establish itself because all of these election officials–experienced people around the country as they start to retire or leave what they are doing–if there is a business opportunity there, they are going to start these auditing firms,” von Spakovsky said.

In the short term, Bettencourt of Texas stated that his state’s election audits were not the same as the one in Arizona conducted by a private cybersecurity company in 2021. He said that the reviews are conducted by state officials in Texas’ forensic audit division.

Bettencourt stated that, “From a policymaker’s perspective, we started off with the idea that it would be better for a professional to do the audit, and in this case, someone who is from the secretary of State’s forensic auditor division.”

Third-party auditors may not be able to fully understand the regulations if you have hired them. … Only people who have done the work can understand the core functions of the work. You won’t find people who can see the obvious if you don’t. You can’t fix it if you don’t know the measurements or what needs to be done.

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