In Texas, the state Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would give the secretary of state — appointed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott — the authority to throw out elections in Harris County, a county largely run by Democrats and the third most populous county in the U.S. The authority would kick in if 2% of polling locations run out of ballot paper for at least an hour. The bill comes as a response to Republican candidates who claim they lost their races after a small number of polling stations ran out of ballots in 2022.