Abbott says Texas vote audits aren’t all about Trump
September 26, 2021
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday defended his state’s decision to reexamine the results of the 2020 presidential election and rejected the idea that he was merely bowing to the wishes of former President Donald Trump.
“There are audits of every aspect of government,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.“ “We have a state auditor, there's a federal auditor for the way the government operations work. Businesses that are public companies are subject to an annual audit. Why do we audit everything in this world, but people raise their hands in concern when we audit elections, which is fundamental to our democracy?“
Abbott’s remarks came two days after a monthslong audit by a firm called Cyber Ninjas cited some issues in Arizona’s handling of the 2020 election but confirmed that Biden had won Maricopa County, which was the focus of their efforts, and, therefore, the state, by even more votes than believed at the time. “The takeaway is that this was a colossal waste of time,” said Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
Critics have argued that the continued push to reexamine the results of the 2020 election in various states is damaging confidence in America‘s elections, undermining the Democratic process and wasting taxpayers’ money. Fixated on getting back to the White House, Trump has made it abundantly clear that he believes the election was stolen, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. States have stood by the results they certified, and courts have rejected almost all of the lawsuits filed by Trump and his backers.
Texas’ secretary of state on Thursday announced its office was reexamining the results in the counties of Dallas, Collin (which includes part of the city of Dallas), Harris (where Houston is located), and Tarrant (where Fort Worth is located) only hours after the release of a letter from Trump to Abbott calling for an audit in Texas. Trump said: “Let's get to the bottom of the 2020 Presidential Election Scam!”
Abbott on Sunday said the timing of Trump’s letter had nothing to do with the decision to perform audits.
“They actually began months ago because the secretary of state of Texas has an obligation to make sure that we do conduct audits in the state of Texas,” Abbott told host Chris Wallace.
Trump won Texas by more than 600,000 votes.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
