Secretary Scott Releases Phase 2 Report on Full Forensic Audit of 2020 General Election in Texas

AUSTIN — Texas Secretary of State John Scott today released a report on the second and final phase of the agency's full forensic audit of the 2020 General Election in four of Texas' largest counties: Collin, Dallas, Harris and Tarrant. Phase 2 of the audit, undertaken over the past year by the Texas Secretary of State's Forensic Audit Division, included a comprehensive examination of election records from the 2020 General Election in each of the four counties, resulting in more than 369 GB of data obtained. The Phase 2 final report, which spans 360 pages, includes key findings from the 2020 General Election on aspects of the election process, including: reconciliation of voters checked in versus ballots cast; physical security of election equipment; adequacy of counties' training materials; ballot-by-mail processes; provisional ballots; voter registration; and complaints received regarding alleged irregularities.

"From the beginning of my time as Texas Secretary of State, I made clear that audit process was meant to provide factual, objective information on the 2020 General Election process in Texas, and that's exactly what we have released to the public today," Secretary Scott said. "Texas has some of the strongest and most effective transparency measures in the country when it comes to administering and auditing elections. The Texas forensic election audit - which is, by far, the largest undertaken in the nation to date - demonstrates how these measures can and should be used to make sure Texas voters can have confidence in the outcome of any given election, as well as which areas counties need to address to restore confidence going forward."

Chad Ennis, Director of the Texas Secretary of State's Forensic Audit Division, writes the following in the executive summary of the report: "When the Texas Election Code and local procedures are followed, Texas voters should have a very high level of confidence in the accuracy of the outcome of Texas elections. Each of the four counties has detailed procedures and detailed forms to document compliance with the code and ensure that only lawful ballots are cast and counted."

"When procedures are followed, results of the election are trustworthy. Indeed, in most cases, the audit found that the counties followed their procedures and clearly documented their activities. In some cases, however, they did not. As outlined in this Report, in cases where procedures were not followed, discrepancies and irregularities ranging from small to large ensued."

Read the full Phase 2 audit report here (PDF).

Read the executive summary of the Phase 2 audit report here (PDF).

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