Tarrant County officials announce launch of voter fraud task force
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — On Wednesday, three of Tarrant County's top officials jointly announced the launch of a task force dedicated to investigating voter fraud.
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, District Attorney Phil Sorrells, and County Judge Tim O'Hare said that the Election Integrity Task Force will utilize "existing county resources" and personnel, including investigators and a prosecutor. They insist that the unit will have "little to no budgetary impact on the offices or departments involved," but did not elaborate any further.
O'Hare said the task force is meant to assure residents that the county's election system is safe. "People all across this county have concerns about elections... and so I think we owe it to our citizens to make sure that they know their vote counts and that the elections are secure and are fair and this will go a long way toward doing that."
However, U.S. Congressman Marc Veasey, who represents parts of Fort Worth, suggested the unit could "send a bad message to Black and Brown citizens." He called the task force "unnecessary and wasteful," argued "voter suppression is alive and well," and said it was "not a good way for the Tarrant County DA and Judge to start off [their terms]."
Veasey also said Thursday that he wanted Tarrant County officials to discuss the "true intentions" of the task force.
Voter fraud is exceptionally rare in Tarrant County. Four individuals were indicted in 2018 on allegations of improper voting but since Fort Worth adopted a new voting system in 2019, there have been no incidents of anyone being charged with voter fraud. A state audit last year found that the county's elections were high quality and transparent.
Since Donald Trump's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, unsubstantiated claims of widespread voting irregularities have become more prevalent among Republicans. In July 2022, the Texas GOP voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution disputing the results of the presidential election without evidence.
The following October, a federal judge in California said communications from conservative lawyer John Eastman showed that Trump and his lawyers pushed claims of voter fraud he knew to be false in federal court and to the public in order to delay the counting of state electoral votes by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Citizens are currently able to submit tips by contacting the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office at (817) 884-1213. The Task Force plans to establish a dedicated phone line and email address for tips.
