AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas is ready and eager to welcome voters to the polls later this month, Secretary of State Jane Nelson conveyed Thursday, encouraging Texans to exercise their civic duty while warding off unfounded fears of fraud.
“I am 100% confident these elections are going to be run accurately. They’re going to be fair. I’m going to make sure that every vote that’s cast counts,” Sec. Nelson said. “Come Election Day, it will be smooth.”
In recent years, top Republicans like Attorney General Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Gov. Greg Abbott have portrayed voter fraud as a top concern for the state. Nelson encouraged voters to ignore the “noise” around elections.
“I like to rise above that noise and show voters what we’re doing to make sure that we’re going to protect their vote,” Nelson told Nexstar. “That’s my job. I’m making sure that our election workers are well trained, that our ballots are secure.”
Election interference is vanishingly rare in Texas. Since 2005, the state has convicted 155 people of election fraud. In the same time period, more than 110 million ballots have been cast — equating to a fraud prevalence of 0.00014%.
In the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers took additional steps to punish and prevent voter fraud. The legislature increased the penalty for illegal voting from a Class A misdemeanor to a second-degree felony, for one, subjecting violators to up to 20 years in prison.
The state also eliminated the office of elections administrator in Harris County, citing delays and errors in recent elections. The state has conducted two audits of the county since, and Sec. Nelson projected confidence that Harris County and every county will be able to tabulate and report results efficiently and accurately this year.
“Harris County is a very populated county, so it’s going to require a lot of our attention to make sure it’s done properly,” she said.
Nelson directs voters to VoteTexas.gov for key information about how, when, and where to vote. She says the most important question though is why.
“Think back to your history classes–think how precious that right to vote is and how many people fought for this country to make sure that we have those rights ensured.”