Alan Vera, an influential Republican anti-voter fraud activist who pushed controversial election bills in Texas, and who grew up in El Paso, died Thursday at the Texas Capitol as he prepared to testify on election law. He was 75 years old.
The news came out of the blue during a Texas House Elections Committee meeting Thursday morning as the committee heard public testimony on one of a dozen bills that would give the state more election oversight. . At the podium, Harris County Republican Party chairwoman Cindy Siegel stumbled over her words and apologized to the committee. “I just found out about Alan, so I’m upset,” Siegel said.
Committee chairman Reggie Smith, a Republican, called for a moment of silence for “our friend Alan.”
An influential figure in Texas election politics, Vera helped found Houston-based True the Vote, a conservative nonprofit focused on voter fraud, and had been the chairman of ballot security for the Republican Party Harris County since 2014. Highly respected among Republican lawmakers, he was frequently called to testify as a witness on election-related legislation.
Vera had been at the Texas Capitol nearly every week this legislative session to testify on election law. Just two weeks ago, during a House Elections Committee hearing, lawmakers sang “Happy Birthday” to Vera as she stood at the podium and handed her a cookie with a candle inside.
“We lost a titan. Alan’s life was dedicated to selfless service, as seen in his time in the Army, working tirelessly to get Republicans elected and doing everything in his power to ensure that elections across the country were safe. through education and advocacy,” Siegel said in a statement.
“At the Texas Capitol, he was always the first in the building and the last to leave, spending countless hours testifying before the House and Senate, meeting with lawmakers, and speaking with other activists to push for election integrity legislation. ”.
An Army veteran who grew up in El Paso, Vera had been active on electoral integrity issues with the Republican Party for more than a decade.
Although there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud, Vera told Texas conservative activist and mega-donor Steven Hotze in a video last fall that he and his wife, Colleen Vera, were inspired to investigate the issue after attending a rally. in Washington in 2009 organized by Glenn Beck, a conservative television personality.
“Everything is God’s work,” Alan Vera said in the video. “We went out as poll watchers all over Harris County, just to see what was going on. And the things we saw gave us goosebumps. We saw such flagrant fraud, such disregard for integrity or for the law, and we were excited about it.”
Vera and Catherine Engelbrecht founded True the Vote in 2010 and trained hundreds of poll watchers before he left the group to volunteer with the Harris County Republican Party. Vera was also known for frequently challenging the legitimacy of registered voters in Harris County. He challenged the registration of thousands of voters in 2018 and did so again last year.
He was among a group of Harris County Republican Party leaders who sued Harris County in 2021 over district maps they argued would favor Democrats. The Texas Supreme Court rejected the challenge.
The Harris County Prosecutor’s Office announced last summer that it was investigating allegations that an election integrity group Vera served on the board of, the Texas Election Network, had been knocking on doors, verifying voter addresses and asking them to sign affidavits.
Vera made presentations to Tea Party and Republican Party caucuses across the state on how to fight voter fraud and used those meetings to recruit poll watchers.
Vera communicated closely with Republican lawmakers, including state Sens. Paul Bettencourt and Bryan Hughes and Rep. Briscoe Cain, making suggestions to them and their legislative staff as they worked to pass a sweeping 2021 election bill known as the Bill Senate Act 1.
Vera was also recently involved in drafting proposed legislation for Hughes that would require the state to withdraw from a multi-state coalition helping Texas clean up its voter rolls.
On Thursday, Engelbrecht described Vera as “a fighter” and “indefatigable.”
“Throughout our long friendship and all the challenges we faced, he never wavered in his commitment to support voter rights,” Engelbrecht said. “And he didn’t just talk, he served, selflessly, year after year. He and his amazing wife, Colleen, defined servant leadership. I am proud to have served alongside him.”
