Tarrant County Officials Announce Electoral Fraud Task Force Formation

FORT WORTH, TX (CBSDFW.COM) — On Wednesday, three senior Tarrant County officials jointly announced the formation of a task force to investigate electoral fraud.

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Wayborn, District Attorney Phil Sorrells and District Judge Tim O’Hara said the Electoral Integrity Task Force will use “existing county resources” and staff, including investigators and a prosecutor. They insist that this unit “will have little or no impact on the budget of the relevant departments or departments,” but did not elaborate on the details.

O’Hare said the task force is there to reassure residents that the county’s electoral system is safe. “People all over the county are concerned about the election… and so I think we have an obligation to our citizens to make sure they know that their votes are counted and that the election is safe and fair, and that will go a long way towards achieving that.”

However, U.S. Congressman Mark Veasey, representing part of Fort Worth, suggested that the unit could “send a bad signal to black and brown citizens.” He called the task force “unnecessary and wasteful”, argued that “voter suppression is alive and well” and said it was “not the best way for District Attorney Tarrant and the judge to start [their terms].”

Electoral fraud is extremely rare in Tarrant County. Four individuals were charged with improper voting in 2018, but since Fort Worth adopted a new voting system in 2019, there has not been a single case of anyone being charged with voter fraud. The state audit conducted last year showed that the elections in the district were held in a quality and transparent manner.

Since Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, unsubstantiated claims of widespread voting irregularities have become more common among Republicans. In July 2022, the Republican Party of Texas voted overwhelmingly for rulings challenging the results of the presidential election without evidence.

The following October, a federal judge in California stated: messages from conservative lawyer John Eastman testified that Trump and his lawyers filed allegations of electoral fraud, which he knew were false, in federal court and the public to delay the counting of the state’s electoral votes by Congress on January 6, 2021.

Citizens can send advice at this time 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 advice.