In the State of Texas, the drama of electoral disputes continues to drag on, turning Texas into ground zero for never-ending ballot brouhahas. Harris County criminal district court judge, Democrat DaSean Jones, finds his 2022 victory shadowed by a still-pending lawsuit from Republican adversary Tami Pierce, as reported by the Texas Tribune. Pierce contends that her defeat, by a margin of fewer than 500 votes, is tainted by "improper or illegal votes."
It's not an isolated case. This pattern of prolonged electoral challenges has become a motif in Texas, with the November 2020 general election setting off the most litigated election in recent memory. According to Votebeat, experts assert that such disputes are growing more frequent even in lower-ballot elections across the state, signifying a shifting battleground where the contest transcends the ballot box.
The stakes of these ongoing legal skirmishes reach beyond mere election results; they straddle the very confidence voters hold in the electoral process. With the 2024 election looming, judges like Jones operate under a cloud of uncertainty while election officials scramble against the tide of undiminished challenges that threaten to erode public trust. Mimi Marziani, a political science and election law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, expressed to the Texas Tribune, "They're not actually trying to have a different person elected. They're trying to set some sort of precedent to destabilize free and fair elections."
While Texas law allows for recounts and challenges in close elections, the new norm seems to be a far-right faction rigorously contesting how elections are conducted, a practice which if not new, now carries the sustained momentum of a movement. Interestingly enough, nearly every challenge thus far has been batted down by the courts, leaving many to wonder what the endgame is. “The test is whether or not the person who voted was eligible to vote, and they were the person who voted,” election law expert Chad Dunn delineated in an interview with the Texas Tribune.
Add to this, election officials already stretched thin must allocate resources to recounts, which invariably confirm initial outcomes. Following the March 5 primary, losers in Dallas and Tarrant counties cried recount to similar ends. In the face of this uphill slog, Tammy Patrick, CEO for programs at the National Association of Election Officials, told Votebeat, "And if the results stand after the recount, 'the individuals who called for the recount or paid for the recount or brought the court challenge are still not satisfied.' And so it doesn't really resolve the issue." With the pending presidential election in November, Marziani foresees an escalation in litigation and recounts, hinting at a strategic ploy for larger election disruptiveness.
