Skip to content
Democracy SENTRY
Voting in your state
UpdateTexasSaturday, October 31, 2026

Texas Republican group sues to hand count all ballots

A lawsuit seeks hand counting for all ballots, while Texas already requires hand counts for a portion of ballots.

Reporting by
Votebeat Texas
“Hand Counting Ballots”, Saturday, October 31, 2026
Read the full story
What happened

The Potter County Republican Party filed a lawsuit seeking to have all Texas ballots hand counted in the November 3 election. The lawsuit argues without proof that voting machines could be vulnerable. Hand counts during the 2026 Texas primary caused delays in multiple counties.1

Calhoun County missed a state deadline to submit results within 24 hours and Eastland County was still tallying ballots more than 12 hours after polls closed.1

What it means in Texas

What Texas law requires for counting

Texas law already requires a portion of paper ballots to be hand counted.1 Within 24 hours of the commissioners court canvass, the county clerk must prepare and send to the secretary of state the county election.2 Local canvassing authorities canvass not later than the 14th day after the election, November 17.3

Key dates in Texas

Election Day in 2 days
  1. Mon, Oct 5 · passed
    Registration deadline
  2. Mon, Oct 19 · passed
    Early voting begins
  3. Fri, Oct 23 · passed
    Last day for mail ballot applications
  4. Fri, Oct 30 · passed
    Early voting ends
  5. Tue, Nov 3 · 2 days
    Election Day
  6. Wed, Nov 4 · 3 days
    Mail ballots must arrive
  7. Tue, Nov 17 · 16 days
    County/Local certification
  8. Mon, Dec 7 · 36 days
    State certification

Every date in Texas, and who certifies the election

More on this story
Texas · Oct 31
Texas county party chair suing to block certification seeks hand count
Reporting by Democracy Docket
Texas · Oct 31
Texas election results become official only after certification
Reporting by Denton Record-Chronicle
The answers behind this
How votes are counted and made officialVoting in Texas, 2026How are votes counted and certified in Texas?Who certifies the election in Texas, and by when?

Explore this issue

OverviewUpdates In depthU.S. Attorney opened case into Arizona non-citizen voter registration In depthHarris County, Texas ends ads targeting minority voters in settlement In depthIowa officials said upcoming election is safe and secure In depthDOJ will deploy 1,000 election monitors but not disclose locations In depthMore than a third of Pennsylvania counties hired new election directors since 2024 In depthTexas county judge candidate faces backlash over AI video of Black voters In depthAlbany County officials reassured voters about early ballot security In depthTrump administration said it challenged voters in 5 states In depthJudge ordered DOJ to send pro-voters list of 20,000 'likely noncitizens' In depthFederal prosecutors charged 18 more immigrants with illegal voting in NC In depthDemocratic groups moved to oppose Republican lawsuit on Texas hand-counting In depthPotter County Republicans file federal suit seeking to halt Texas certification

Sources

  1. Votebeat Texas, https://votebeat.org/hand-counting-ballots · Saturday, October 31, 2026
  2. NCSL, Election Certification Deadlines, https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/election-certification-deadlines
  3. NCSL, Canvass Deadlines, https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/canvass-deadlines

Ask

Have a question about voting in Texas?

Ask it here. If we do not have the answer yet, we will find it.