AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ prime elections official resigned Monday after an intense yr of making an attempt to reassure election skeptics, navigating the rocky launch of recent voting legal guidelines that resulted in 1000’s of discarded mail ballots and overseeing a restricted audit of the 2020 election.
Secretary of State John Scott, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, got here below speedy scrutiny from the second he took the job in October 2021. He was briefly a part of former President Donald Trump’s authorized workforce that challenged the outcomes of the 2020 election however stated upon taking the job in Texas that he didn’t dispute that President Joe Biden was the winner.
Straight away, Scott was tasked with making an attempt to provide Texas voters confidence about election outcomes and the power to forged a poll after Republicans handed a sweeping new voting legislation simply weeks earlier than his appointment. However these efforts bought off to a bumpy begin throughout Texas’ first-in-the-nation main as voters struggled to navigate new mail voting necessities, leading to counties throwing out almost 23,000 mail ballots.
Within the November elections, the speed of rejected ballots had returned to extra regular ranges, and Scott’s workplace stated there have been no main points surrounding the election.
“By listening on to the issues of native election officers, voters, and grassroots activists from throughout the political spectrum, I used to be capable of perceive how you can higher educate Texas voters about their most sacred civic responsibility,” Scott stated in his resignation letter.
Scott stated he’ll return to personal authorized follow. His successor can be chosen by Abbott, who was reelected to a 3rd time period in November.
In September, forward of this yr’s midterm election, Scott instructed The Related Press that his workplace often acquired threats, had heard from many Texans involved about election integrity and was involved with native election officers receiving related messages.
Scott’s function additionally touched on border safety this yr as his workplace aided within the governor’s negotiations with neighboring Mexican states as a part of Abbott’s efforts to curb immigration. This got here after Abbott issued a directive earlier this yr to examine all business autos crossing by way of a number of checkpoints throughout the border, inflicting prolonged delays and the shutdown of among the world’s busiest commerce bridges.
