Were Witnesses For Texas Senate ‘Voucher’ Hearing Chosen At Random?

Our weekly check-in with the Texas Truth-O-Meter.

By Alain StephensApril 19, 2017 9:37 am,

An Austin resident declared that a Texas Senate panel randomly called witnesses to testify at a crucial hearing no matter how early people turned in requests to do so.

Is that a fact? Gardner Selby of the PolitiFact Texas fact-checking team has the answer.

School librarian Sara Stevenson, whom we’ve fact-checked before, said in a letter to the editor in the Austin American-Statesman that about 8 a.m. March 21, 2017, she was the fifth person to submit a required paper form requesting to testify at that day’s Senate Education Committee hearing on legislation to enable public school students to attend private schools using government aid.

In her letter, Stevenson said that after signing up to testify, she went to work and then returned to the hearing at 2 p.m. “My name had still not been called,” she wrote. “I waited six more hours until my name was finally called after 8 p.m.

Hear how Stevenson’s claim scored in the player above.