Voting integrity at top of mind amid skepticism

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The 2022 midterm elections are right around the corner. While early voting, electronic voting and other new ways to vote have made life easier for most, some people are still skeptical on if they can trust that process.

Officials said this is supposed to help voters, not scare them away. Just last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law to ensure trust and confidence in our election system.

It also makes it easier for people to vote and harder for them to cheat. The bill creates uniform statewide voting hours, authorizes poll workers to observe more aspects of the election process and leads to fewer issues when tallying votes.

“Most of the examples of voting fraud that we saw in the last election had to do with family relations where say somebody passed away and somebody is voting for their ballot or an elderly family member and they are voting or something along those lines,” Dr. Steve Garrison, MSU Texas political science professor, said. “These usually end up being a handful of cases and they are not enough to typically swing an election one way or another for a local candidate, let alone a presidential candidate.”

Garrison added that voting is more safe and secure now than ever, and while little things like that may happen here and there, it isn’t enough to swing election results.

Early voting is less than three weeks away and while some may feel nervous about voting, Garrison said that you should trust your election officials and poll workers because they are there to help you.

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