Dear Texas Republican,

Thank you for all of your hard work and support on behalf of our Republican ticket this November. We are on the verge of a great Republican victory in Texas for our candidates, but we face a few more days of hard work and dedicated volunteers are needed now more than ever! More in a minute.

RECAP

First, let me give you a very short update about what I have been doing as your Republican Party of Texas Vice-Chairman these past weeks. Its been a pleasure being out on the road and meeting many of you. In early September, I was honored to attend a fundraiser for the San Jacinto County Republican Party just days before going up to Hood County to keynote a 9/11 remembrance event, a “Celebration of Freedom.” The Hood County Republican Women had a tremendous turnout, and it was very humbling to be surrounded by so many patriotic Americans.

Further road trips have led me up to Richardson, where I keynoted the Republican Women’s Membership Tea in July, down to Tomball, where I spoke to the Republican Women’s club in that city, to Sugar Land, where I spoke at the Spirit of Freedom Republican Women’s Club, and to Orange County where I was at their county party’s GOP dinner just last weekend. It was an honor to appear at a rally in Lufkin, on behalf of James White, our GOP State House Candidate in HD12 – the rally was fantastic and very well attended! Another recent trip saw me down at the Greater Houston Council of Republican Women, speaking about redistricting along with Chairman Steve Munisteri. Of course, in the middle of all of this travel was a busy weekend in Austin for our quarterly State Republican Executive Committee Meeting, on September 23-24, with many committee meetings and a detailed general session. Much has been accomplished over a very short time!

BALLOT INTEGRITY

Working with Chairman Munisteri, I have been leading a special RPT task force focusing on the integrity of the ballot in these November elections. Our goal has been very straightforward: To ensure that no voter is disenfranchised, to ensure that all legally cast votes are accurately tabulated, and to reduce confusion among voters and elected officials regarding election laws and procedures.

This committee has been working with the SREC Ballot Integrity sub-committee, and the level of coordination has been outstanding! Thus far, we have been having regular conference calls, and broken into sub-committees with even more conference calls and coordination. With many areas of expertise and responsibility, across such a large State, it has been gratifying to see so many talented individuals step forward with their time and talents.

I would particularly like to thank SREC members Amy Clark, Eric Opiela and Jean McIver, as well as Stephanie Klick, Tarrant County GOP Chair, Toni Anne Dashiell, Kendall County GOP Chair, and Barbara Lawson, Vice Chair, TFRW, and TFRW Ballot Integrity Chair.

The RPT task force has been in regular communication with GOP County Chairs to help provide them with the support and information they have requested in watching for voter fraud, and preparing for it in the event it does occur. We have setup online webinars to facilitate training, and have been reaching out individually to several targeted counties to help with election worker training. Eric Opiela, Assistant General Counsel and SREC SD 21, is also teaching an accredited continuing legal education course in Texas Election Law for attorneys helping campaigns and local parties with election day operations and recounts. Thank you Eric!!

Additionally this week, a nationally recognized ballot integrity expert is coming to Texas to help our team conduct attorney training with an invitation-only conference and webinar for GOP attorneys. They will hear first-hand knowledge of things that we must be on the lookout for here in Texas that may not yet have occurred in the Lone Star State, but which our election workers must be able to recognize and handle should they occur.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES:

Numerous opportunities for training of Election Judges and Poll Watchers are going on in all corners of the state. Some are live trainings, and others are via webinar. If you are interested in any of these trainings, please contact the Ballot Integrity Task Force at BallotIntegrity@texasgop.org or by (512-591-VOTE).

Thank you again for your involvement and participation in this election cycle, and for your support of our Republican candidates. We must all dig deep for this final push toward victory!

Melinda Fredricks
Vice-Chairman, Republican Party of Texas