GOP hatches new plot to obstruct vote certification in red state: report

A Texas county Republican Party wants a federal judge to stop certification of the state’s election results until every paper ballot in Texas is counted by hand, Democracy Docket reported.

The Potter County Republican Party and its chairman, Daniel Rogers, filed suit Tuesday against county elections administrator Christy Benge, a week before Election Day.

The case landed in Amarillo before Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a notorious Trump appointee with a history of highly partisan rulings on behalf of right-wing groups. Democracy Docket says litigants filing in that division have long been able to count on drawing him, which has prompted judge-shopping criticism.

The 27-page complaint cites AI, foreign-made machine parts, and the risk of hacking. It doesn’t claim any Texas machine has altered votes, and acknowledges the plaintiffs aren’t alleging any earlier Potter County result was wrong. They say they aren’t trying to stop voting, delay Election Day or throw out ballots, only to change “the post-election verification and certification process.”

Democracy Docket says the effect would be to stall certification unless counties do a full hand count that Texas doesn’t require. The state already requires hand-count audits of a sample of ballots, which the plaintiffs call inadequate. They want the hand count to control if it differs from the machines’.

The outlet argues the suit has weaknesses, including a possible standing problem because the plaintiffs point to no vote that was wrongly counted, and says the complaint relies on federal grant conditions calling for a 5 percent audit to argue the Constitution requires 100 percent.

The plaintiffs also ask the court to certify a class of Texas county election administrators with Benge as their representative.