West Texas Republicans Sue for Statewide Hand Count of Ballots

A West Texas Republican Party has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to stop the certification of the upcoming midterm election unless county officials hand count every ballot in the state.

The Potter County GOP and its chairman, Daniel Rogers, filed an federal lawsuit earlier this week in the Amarillo Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against Potter County Elections Administrator Christy Benge.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019. 

The lawsuit asks the court to require 100% of ballots to be hand counted before results are certified for federal races in the state. 

The lawsuit focuses on the threats of hacking and software errors and manipulation using artificial intelligence in voting machines, though it does not accuse the state or county of having faulty voting machines or allege there have been any instances in which a cybersecurity breach has taken place.

The suit states that voting machines that have components manufactured by foreign adversaries could “introduce significant security risks.”

“These vulnerabilities mean that malicious actors could potentially compromise election infrastructure at any stage of the supply chain, even before the machines are assembled or deployed,” the plaintiffs wrote. “If a component is tampered with during manufacturing, it could serve as a point-of-entry for unlawful and malfeasance hackers, allowing for the possibility of synchronized attacks across multiple election machines and jurisdictions.” 

Plaintiffs argue that the lawsuit is prospective and not based on actual evidence of any issues; instead, they are urging that the growing threat of cybersecurity concerns warrants an additional requirement on top of the procedures already required by state law. 

“Recent reports of the ability of rogue artificial intelligence (AI) programs to hack into virtually any voting system, while covering their tracks to avoid detection and even self-destructing to hide their activity, demonstrate an imminent risk of undetectable tampering with election machines to alter the final election results by rogue actors,” the complaint states. 

The state of Texas already requires election officials to conduct hand-count audits of a portion of ballots after elections using electronic voting systems to ensure accuracy. Under Section 127.201 of the Texas Election Code, the audit requires hand-counting ballots from at least 1% of Election Day polling locations and 1% of early-voting locations, or three locations in each category, whichever is greater. 

However, the Potter County GOP lawsuit seeks to expand that process by asking the federal court to require officials to hand-count every paper ballot cast statewide before certifying the federal election results. 

The lawsuit was filed just seven days before Election Day, as the Texas Senate race and gubernatorial race are showing to be close. 

Though the case has been assigned to Kacsmaryk, as of Thursday, no hearing date has been publicly scheduled. 

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. 

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