A Texas election documentary

Why don’t the numbers match?

Every Texas county publishes a reconciliation report. The state publishes an official vote total. Put the two side by side and they disagree — county after county, election after election. We have been asking about the gap since 2022. Nobody has answered.

254Texas counties
in the dataset
Lost Votes documentary title card

Start here

Texas Lost Votes

The whole case, laid out in twelve minutes: where the reconciliation reports come from, what boxes E and H actually mean, and what happens when you subtract one from the other and compare the answer to the state’s official count.

Read the written version

The objection we hear most

Are our numbers wrong?

It is a fair question and we would rather answer it than dodge it. This walks through the arithmetic line by line, using the counties’ own published documents, so you can check the work yourself.

See the arithmetic
Texas deserves better

Check it yourself

None of this asks you to take our word for it. Every number below comes from a document the state or the county published.

What is a lost vote?

The definition, the formula, and a worked example from Brazos County — the county that publishes the most and so lets us show the most.

Learn more

Your county’s numbers

All 254 Texas counties, with the reconciliation figures and the official state total side by side, and the difference worked out.

Look up a county

Your questions answered

Does three percent really change an election? What if you are wrong? Why are you doing this at all? Straight answers to all of it.

Read the FAQ

Follow-up investigations

The Texas audits, reviewed

Texas ran what it called a full forensic audit, and certified the machines that counted the votes. We read the reports. Here is what we found.

An ES&S DS850 ballot scanner

Are our election machines properly certified?

What the certification paperwork for the machines counting Texas ballots actually says — and what it leaves out.

The “full forensic audit”, phase one

A review of the first phase of the audit Texas promised, and how much of the question it actually set out to answer.

Texas audit phase one title card
Texas audit phase two title card

Phase two — you be the judge

Did the phase two report build your confidence in the way Texas counts and reconciles its votes? Watch it and decide.

Same question, shorter format

Parodies

The documentary makes the case with numbers. These make it with a punchline.

U
Word Salad

Unburdened

A former top ranking official spewing word salad — direct quotes. Can you guess who said these things?

OS
Word Salad

Opening Silos

Salvo or silo — what's the difference? One of the most confident mis-speakings in the history of speech.

See all parodies

Latest news and updates

The official numbers keep changing. This is the running record.

See all updates

Help every Texan know what is happening

We can’t do this alone

This information needs to reach every Texas citizen, every elected representative, and every non-elected servant who touches an election. Someone in Texas government needs to stand up and answer the question.

State government

Please share this with your state officials — the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and your own house and senate representatives.

Find your state reps

Federal

Your federal representatives need to know as well. Forward this to both Texas senators and to your member of the House.

Find your rep Contact senators

County and social

Your county officials must hold the state accountable:

  • County Judge
  • County Commissioners
  • County DA and Sheriff
  • County Elections Office

Let them know that ignoring the issue is not an option — and post the documentary on your own social platforms.

Contact us

Questions, corrections, or a reconciliation report we are missing — we want to hear about all three. If you think a number here is wrong, tell us and show us; we will publish the correction.