A Texas county at the center of a 2020 election controversy and previously run by a serially accused potential fraudster overseeing machines for 90 Texas counties is lacking the necessary legal compliance.
There is, of course, a great deal of debate surrounding how one of the most solid Republican bastions suddenly switched blue in one election cycle. Some people pointed out the 20 million votes that materialized for Democrats across the country as fraud, and others argued that Democrats changed or exploited voting rules to register many U.S.-hating migrants.
Whatever the explanation, it certainly does not help that Texas, while requiring ID to register for voting, does not verify all registrants’ citizenship, relying on their honesty to affirm they are citizens. And there were nearly 3 million new voter registrations in Texas just between 2022 and 2024.
Another piece of the puzzle is Heider Garcia, a Venezuelan Hart InterCivic vice president who helps oversee the election machines for 90 Texas counties, as mentioned above. He previously also worked for Smartmatic when officials in the Philippines accused him and his machines of dangerous and egregious fraud. Garcia subsequently served as an election official in California and more than one Texas county, including Tarrant County, which is the one I am looking at in this article.
After Tarrant County flipped blue in one election cycle in 2020, the first Trump administration believed there could be fraud. Republican-aligned County Judge Tim O’Hare was questioning Garcia’s performance and seeking greater election transparency when Garcia resigned, claiming he was a victim. He subsequently worked for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission before moving on to Dallas County. From there, he went right to Hart InterCivic. And now there is a new report about Tarrant County’s policies having no effective way to remove ineligible voters from the rolls. From Integrity First Alliance President Shiloh Marx:
Tarrant County Elections stated, "We do not have a way to track voting activity," which violates federal and state voting laws. Federal law requires removal of voters who fail to return an address confirmation notice and then fail to vote in the subsequent two elections. Tarrant County Elections stated they do not track this mandatory voting record.
— Shiloh Marx (@Shilohmarx) November 8, 2026
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In section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, it says not voting “shall not result in the removal of the name of any person from the official list of voters registered to vote in an election for Federal office” except insofar as that meets requirements for removal under state and federal law, the latter being:
(A) [voter] has not either notified the applicable registrar (in person or in writing) or responded during the period described in subparagraph (B) to the notice sent by the applicable registrar; and then
(B) has not voted or appeared to vote in 2 or more consecutive general elections for Federal office.
That’s what Marx referenced above. And he’s absolutely right about Tarrant County failing to do basic voter integrity enforcement.
While we certainly do not have proof positive that there was election-altering fraud, what we are finding in Texas and other states is that the systems are so vulnerable, so lacking in basic guardrails, that we can say there needs to be major reform, especially if Republicans ever want to win a national election again. The Save America Act is the only option.