A new Republican-backed bill would authorize the Texas Secretary of State to rerun elections in the state’s most populous county if a ballot paper shortage occurs.
The one-page legislation cleared the Texas Senate on Monday in a strictly party-line vote of 19–12. It would give the Secretary of State, a position appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, the authority to order a new election in counties wherein 2 percent or more of the polling places ran out of ballots for more than an hour after calling for a restock.
The measure specifically applies to counties with populations greater than 2.7 million. This metric, for now, only covers Harris County, which is home to over 4.7 million people as of 2020. The second most populous in the state, Dallas County, has a 2020 population of 2.6 million….