The Texas legislature has several bills on its docket that would increase penalties for voter fraud and give the state more tools to enforce election laws. But as we see in urban areas around the nation where left-wing district attorneys refuse to enforce laws against assault or thievery, the law matters little if it’s not enforced.
Here’s an analogy I like to use: For 12 years, I’ve lived about 25 miles outside Austin. About half of the cars outside my house clearly travel far faster than the posted 25 mph speed limit. But there’s never been a speeding ticket issued as law enforcement never enforces the speed limit. Since there’s never been a speeding ticket issued, there’s clearly no speeding problem in my neighborhood.
The same principle is at work when it comes to election fraud. Very little in the way of law enforcement assets has been dedicated to punishing election crimes in Texas, and you generally don’t find what you don’t look for.
In 2005, the office of the Texas attorney general only had a part-time prosecutor pursuing election fraud cases. About 13 years ago, this was boosted to one full-time prosecutor with supporting investigatory staff. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, this one prosecutor was redirected to focus on price gouging crimes. By 2018, with rising concerns over election integrity, the legislature and AG’s office agreed to increase the resources dedicated to ensuring clean elections, with the number of prosecutors boosted to three backed up
