COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — A Texas chapter of Citizens Defending Freedom, a nonprofit that helps American citizens defend their faith and freedom, says that after pressing county officials to place election integrity on their meeting agenda, their perseverance has been successful.
In August, after months of diligent efforts from concerned citizens and members of Collin County Citizens Defending Freedom, the Commissioners Court of Collin County placed election integrity on the agenda for their monthly meeting. Citizens from across the county attended the August 28th meeting, which occurred midday where more than 40 attendees signed up to address the board directly during public comment. “For 40 speakers to show up, on Monday in the middle of a workday, is astonishing and makes a clear statement that election integrity is of utmost importance to the citizens of Collin County” stated a resident who attended the meeting.
Citizens, who held the Court’s attention for almost two hours with powerful words and honest testimonies, spoke at length about wanting precinct voting over county-wide voting; hand counted paper ballots over electronically cast and tabulated votes; and sequentially numbered vs at random ballots.
“Every Citizen who spoke wanted to rid the county of the machines. No one spoke in favor of machines” said Tara Schulte, Executive Director of Collin County Citizens Defending Freedom. “Watching first time speakers, go to the mic and speak from the heart on election integrity, showed our Collin CDF team that we are doing our job in igniting the citizens to be equipped and empowered.”
Collin County Citizens Defending Freedom provided a detailed list of 17 suggested election improvements, which County Judge Chris Hill had requested of them after a previous Commissioner’s Court meeting in July. The renewed zeal for a face-to-face with officials began on July 20th, when experts, Professor Clements and Doctor Daugherty, came and spoke on election integrity at CDF’s monthly meeting. This ultimately encouraged over a dozen well-spoken and educated citizens to speak at the Commissioner’s Court July 24th regarding the innumerable problems surrounding electronic voting machines, as well as offering possible solutions.
After the July 24th meeting, Hill met with a group of CDF leaders and citizens for nearly five hours in the chambers about improving elections, Schulte said. In this meeting, Judge Hill requested the “Election improvements list,” on CDF letterhead, which ultimately led to election integrity being added to the agenda for August 28th. Judge Hill and other county officials also attended The Hand Count Roadshow, an election integrity event hosted by Collin CDF.. The Roadshow showcased three hand counting methods that could be used in upcoming elections, including the stack and count, the calculator method, and the only approved method by Texas State Law Chapter 65.
After months of productive meetings, work sessions, and countless hours of discussions involving several members of the Collin County Citizens Defending Freedom team, the Commissioner’s Court publicly responded to the 17 suggested elections improvements, including 11 rebuttals and 3 with no response at all. This inspired the Election Division Lead for Collin CDF, Debbie Lindstrom, to create a 44 page response which can be found here.
“To have this happen is truly remarkable,” said Schulte. “We have been working tirelessly to get election integrity on the agenda for over a year, for some citizens it’s been 2 years, and we truly feel this is a tremendous win for the citizens of Collin County. Our county officials have agreed to address the sequentially numbering of paper ballots, which has not been done in any other Texas county that we know of. We will continue to work with our elected officials to restore trust and confidence in the election process in our county.”
About Citizens Defending Freedom:
Founded in 2021, Citizens Defending Freedom is a non-profit organization that strategically operates in counties across America to help citizens defend their faith and freedom, all while fighting for transparency in local government. Currently, Citizens Defending Freedom is established in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas, with plans to continue expanding across America. Click here to learn more about Citizens Defending Freedom.