Today, the non-partisan watch group American Oversight launched an open investigation into Texas’ recently announced “forensic audit” of the 2020 election in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin counties.

American Oversight’s ongoing investigation into the Arizona “audit” has already forced the public disclosure of more than 80,000 pages of documents, including emails revealing significant partisan biases and the involvement of conspiracy theorists in the process. examination of the ballot.

The 14 new registration applications submitted to Texas today call for the release of communications from the offices of the Governor, Secretary of State and Attorney General as well as the Election Departments and County Commissioners Courts of the County of Dallas, Harris , Tarrant and Collin regarding this verification.

“As we saw in Arizona, these bogus audits have nothing to do with election security and are meant to perpetuate false allegations of voter fraud to justify further restrictions on voting,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight. “This latest ‘forensic audit’ demanded by Donald Trump is more than a waste of taxpayer money; it is a dangerous expansion of the assault on our democracy already underway in Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office announced the audit only hours after former President Donald Trump publicly urged Governor Greg Abbott to support legislation that would allow a “forensic audit” of the 2020 election results, as well as future presidential elections. In September, Abbott sign in law a list of voting restrictions that makes Texas one of the most difficult states in the country to vote.

Former Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs describe the 2020 elections as “simple and secure”. Documents previously discovered by American Oversight and cited by the Houston Chronicleshowed that the Texas attorney general’s office spent 22,000 working hours in 2020 prosecuting just 16 cases of suspected “voter fraud”.

Today’s requests are part of American Oversight’s larger investigation into threats to democracy in Texas and across the country. More information on the Texas Watch Group investigations is available here. Today’s requests are available here.

American Oversight is a non-partisan 501 (c) (3) nonprofit ethics oversight body that uses litigation-backed requests for public documents to expose official misconduct, threats to democracy, and abuse of power to all levels of government. The documents obtained by American Oversight have supported the investigative work of journalists, congressional committees and independent watchdogs, and have been featured in hundreds of reports across the country. Follow us on @weareoversight and learn more about http://www.americanoversight.org.