© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Some Texas GOP Echo Trump's Rigged Election Claims

Texas Tribune

The head of Texas’ Republican Party agrees with Donald Trump’s ongoing concerns about there being voter fraud during this November’s election.  Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler says voter fraud is a rampant problem we know is happening in Texas.

Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tom Mechler

Mechler says he’s seen proof that voter fraud is a problem in the Lone Star State.

“The problem has been in the Democrat-controlled areas of the state, in the Valley there has been issues and they’ve had issues in the Primary Election where their own candidates are being cheated of their election results," Mechler says.

Mechler doesn’t agree with some of his statewide elected colleagues that condemn Trump’s rhetoric about voter fraud.  And unlike some political pundits, Mechler doesn’t believe that this type of rhetoric will hurt Trump’s chances or any of those down-ballot Republican candidates running in contentious state elections because of the party’s get-out-the-vote efforts.

But Alicia Pearce with the Texas Secretary of State’s office does have concerns about the perception voters may have on whether their ballot will count.  She says having compartmentalized elections controlled by counties makes voter fraud nearly impossible.

“Remember, in Texas we’re not just having one election, we’re having 254 elections because elections are held on a county level, so the number of elections that we are having would make any sort of collusion impossible," Pearce explains.

Pearce says these election workers in many cases are your friends and neighbors.  She says they, along with the Texas Secretary of State’s office, hold security and accuracy of these elections at the highest level.

Pearce says the worst thing that could happen during this election is that a voter doesn’t go to the polls because they fear the system for voting will not remain intact.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.