HOUSTON — Voting fraud has been a major talking point in Texas politics over the last few years.
The primaries underway now are the first elections with SB 1 in effect, which is Texas’ controversial new voting law that’s supposed to make it harder for fraudulent votes to be cast.
KHOU 11 News viewer David Hansen emailed the verify team to find out how big of an issue voting fraud really is in the state.
He asked, “I would like to know how many people have been found guilty of voter fraud in the state of Texas in the last 4 years?”
The Texas attorney general, which is who investigates voter fraud, is the source for this question's answer.
The attorney general sent KHOU 11 dozens of pages of spreadsheets detailing all election complaints and prosecutions.
Since 2018, 171 people have been investigated for voter fraud in Texas. Records show 61 people have been found guilty, including 20 in Harris County. The most common election fraud crime in Harris County is listing a false address.
Prosecutions are pending in another 41 cases in Texas, which involve more than 400 offenses. The Texas AG’s office says 70% are for mail ballot fraud. Illegal voting makes up 17% of pending cases.
KHOU 11 can verify people have been found guilty for casting ballots fraudulently in Texas. However, more than 11 million Texans voted in the 2020 election, so fraudulent votes make up far less than 1% of all votes cast.