Followup: Unfolding Voting Debacle in Harris County Results in Resignation, Lawsuits

In Friday’s LinkSwarm, we talked about just how screwed up Democratic-run Harris County’s voting counting was. Well, things haven’t gotten any better, with 10,000 ballots left out of the count, a camera turned off and handpicked Democratic elections administrator Isabel Longoria resigning.

Following a week of public outcry and multiple lawsuits over primary election issues in the state’s largest county, Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria submitted her resignation on Tuesday.

“Today I am submitting my resignation effective July 1. I think this date ensures that there’s a presiding officer during the major elections and allows the election commission the time they need to find a replacement,” Longoria said. “I remain committed to the office and its mission and hope to aid in defeating harmful radical rhetoric to ensure successful elections in the future.”

During a Wednesday morning press conference, however, Harris County Republican Party (HCRP) Chair Cindy Siegel announced that the party would continue to pursue its lawsuit over the election, noting that Longoria is slated to preside over the upcoming primary runoff and municipal elections in May.

HCRP attorney Steve Mitby said he would be going into an emergency hearing to request the court order an independent administrator to oversee the next Harris County election, and for the county to turn back on cameras live streaming the ballot counting process.

“We know there are 10,000 ballots that Harris County just found, that apparently had been lost, and they shut the cameras off when all this was going on,” said Mitby. “Under Texas law, Harris County is required to have a livestream and camera footage of all vote counting that’s going on.”

“The only reason why they would have been shut off is because somebody in Lina Hidalgo’s office had something to hide.”

Following an emergency hearing Wednesday morning, district court Judge Fredericka Phillips ruled that the court would supervise the counting of votes and ordered Longoria to report again to the court at 7:00 p.m.

Longoria said that cameras were not turned off but that the livestream was moved from the YouTube channel to another location on the Harris County website. Mitby told The Texan Longoria had not notified residents or observers of the change midway through the counting process.

He also refuted Hidalgo’s attempt to blame Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Texas GOP-backed election reform bill passed by the legislature in 2021.

“SB 1 did not cause the county to fail to deliver equipment, provide incorrect ballots, or supply the wrong sized paper. SB 1 did not delay the counting process or cause the county to lose ballots.”

Alan Vera, HCRP ballot security chair, added that another 175 uncounted ballots had been discovered Tuesday night.

On primary election day, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office announced that Longoria had informed them she would not be able to comply with a 1986 state law requiring reporting of a full early vote and election day count within 24 hours of polls closing.

The Harris County Republican Party waited until within one hour of the deadline, but on observing the slow posting of returns, filed a lawsuit requesting a district court impound materials and oversee the remaining count. After Longoria’s office completed the count at approximately 1:00 a.m. Thursday, the party agreed to dismiss the case.

By Friday, however, due to new reconciliation requirements in state law approved in 2021, the secretary of state’s office discovered that Harris County officials had neglected to include more than 10,000 ballots in the reported counts.

On Saturday night, Longoria posted a statement about the issue on social media without informing the local Democratic and Republican parties, which contract with Harris County elections department to conduct the primaries.

Turning off cameras during ballot counting should receive the same penalty that turning off a police camera does for officers: automatic termination for cause.

Again, the question is: Are Harris County Democrats committing fraud, or are they just massively incompetent?

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5 Responses to “Followup: Unfolding Voting Debacle in Harris County Results in Resignation, Lawsuits”

  1. 370H55V says:

    “On Saturday night, Longoria posted a statement about the issue on social media without informing the local Democratic and Republican parties, which contract with Harris County elections department to conduct the primaries.”

    There’s the money shot right there. Like most southern states, Texas has open primaries, the cost of which is borne by the parties conducting them. This is a remnant of the days in which the GOP was non-existent in those states. It made no sense to have party registration when everyone was a Democrat anyway.

    Today the funding of primaries is a substantial cost to the parties, and when a statewide race is on the ballot, one wonders how either party can staff every single precinct in the state when so many counties are still entirely blue or red.

    There is no statutory requirement for the parties to contract with local election offices to conduct their primaries. Perhaps some enterprising entrepreneur can provide this service much more efficiently and honestly. Any takers?

  2. Clinton says:

    ”Again, the question is: are Harris County Democrats committing fraud, or are they just massively incompetent?”

    I believe the answer is “both”.

  3. Chemist says:

    If the cameras are turned off or if butcher paper is put up in windows the effect is the same: No one can tell what is going on.
    I suggest that when that happens, the vote is thrown out and the election needs to be redone. And it is redone with an entirely new staff. Bring trained people in from a different county – preferably one with a majority of the opposite political party.
    Yes, it will delay results.
    Yes it will be expensive.
    It will probably only need to be done once.

  4. ed in texas says:

    On a similar note, CH13 in Houston is reporting that this morning (3-11) the Rangers are going door to door in Harris County offices, serving warrants and seizing files and computers. Seems that the company that Harris Co hired to run it’s Covid program was maybe a pay for play scam.

  5. […] let Republicans catch us cheating.” Remember, this is the county where the voting administrator had to resign over a horribly botched March primary this […]

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