On the eve of the pivotal November 2026 midterms, Republicans in a small county in the Texas Panhandle are seeking a major change to the way ballots would be counted across the state.
Members of the Potter County GOP have filed a federal lawsuit against the elections administrator there. They want a judge to require the office to hand count every single paper ballot before election results can be finalized, and they want that requirement to apply to all 254 counties in Texas.
The lawsuit alleges that the electronic voting machines used by many Americans at the polls could be manipulated, an issue President Donald Trump has brought up repeatedly over the years when falsely claiming that election results favoring Democratic candidates may be fraudulent.
If the lawsuit is successful, the normal process of tabulating results could turn into a months-long effort to tally up millions of pieces of paper by hand. The results could not go through the necessary "certification" process – a normally quiet and routine step that would officially allow the election winner to take office – until that tally is complete.
But that is an unlikely outcome, according to San Antonio voting rights attorney Joaquin Gonzalez.
For one thing, the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit that they are not alleging "that any particular Texas voting machine has miscounted votes in the past" or that any past results were "altered" or "inaccurately reported." They only speculate that it could happen in the future, which isn't generally enough to convince a judge to step in.
"You haven't shown how you're going to actually be concretely injured by this policy," Gonzalez said, adding that the plaintiffs would need more evidence to show "there's an imminent threat that it's really going to happen."
He also pointed out that Potter County elections officials must first have a chance to respond to the lawsuit before the judge can make a ruling, and they have 21 days to do so. The plaintiffs could ask the judge to force them to answer earlier, but they haven't yet made such a request.
The chair of the Potter County GOP, Daniel Rogers, did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment. He has tried several times to push for hand counting of all paper ballots during the county's Republican primaries, but ended up abandoning those plans due to lack of support from county officials.
Jared Woodfill, one of the lawyers representing Rogers, also did not respond to phone calls, text messages and emails. Woodfill is a former chairman of the Harris County GOP who has filed multiple challenges related to election results and voting procedures in Texas in recent years.
Chris McGinn, president of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, said in a statement that the allegations in the lawsuit are baseless.
"The Texas Legislature has repeatedly addressed the hypothetical concerns outlined in the lawsuit by instituting some of the strongest election integrity and transparency laws in the nation," McGinn wrote. "County election officials will follow those laws to the letter so Texans can trust that the results reflect the votes they cast."
Potter County Elections Administrator Christy Benge, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said in a brief phone interview that she had not yet seen a copy of the suit.
"I haven't even been served with a lawsuit. I've seen it on social media. Obviously, I can't comment on it, and if it's pending litigation I can't comment on it even then," Benge said.
Echoes of Trump
Voting rights advocates and current and former Democratic officials say the lawsuit echoes previous efforts by Republicans to challenge an election outcome if it doesn't go their way. For example, more than 20 GOP candidates who lost their races in Harris County back in 2022 took the winners to court, though judges ultimately struck all of their lawsuits down.
In recent months, Trump has already hinted at the possibility of taking action related to the midterms. He's also continued to assert, without providing evidence, that faulty voting machines and other election administration problems caused him to lose the 2020 presidential election.
"We are still dealing with the effects of 2020 election denialism claims today," said Jonathan Fombonne, the former Harris County Attorney, a position that serves as legal counsel for the county government. He called the Potter County lawsuit "a way of continuing the narrative."
Fombonne's successor, Abbie Kamin, expressed a similar opinion.
"This action was brought in a county of less than approximately 120,000 people, seeking to undermine our state's election laws in the name of election denial propaganda, [and] is drenched in homages to Trump," Kamin wrote in a text message. She and Fombonne are both Democrats.
While the Potter County GOP did not directly sue Harris County, it has asked the federal judge to include all Texas counties as defendants in the proceedings. Fombonne called that request "truly the most bonkers thing I have ever heard."
Because the lawsuit was filed in federal court, rather than state court, it specifically targets the ballot counting process only in federal races. The most high-profile of those is the U.S. Senate race between Democratic State Rep. James Talarico and Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
"If Talarico were to win and the Senate hung in the balance based on one vote, and they slowed down his certification, he might not be able to take his seat at the beginning and the Republicans might have a false majority for a few months," said Gonzalez, the voting rights lawyer.
Notably, the lawsuit was filed in a jurisdiction where only one U.S. District Judge is generally available to oversee such proceedings: Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee who has become a favorite of conservative activists seeking favorable rulings.
Even so, Gonzalez said he is skeptical Kacsmaryk would agree with the plaintiffs. He pointed to the fact that the judge recently declined to weigh in on a separate bid by Texas Republicans to change who can vote in the GOP's primary elections. Kacsmaryk paused that lawsuit even though Paxton said he agreed with the proposed change as the state's top lawyer.
If Kacsmaryk decided electronic voting machines couldn't be trusted in Potter County and across the state, that would be an extraordinary development, Gonzalez said.
On the other hand: "Nothing would entirely surprise me with the current judiciary."
Toluwani Osibamowo and Dominic Walsh of Houston Public Media contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 KUT News