Difficulties again put Houston at center of Texas elections

HOUSTON (AP) — A Democrat who’s the highest official in Texas’ largest county on Thursday acknowledged issues round Houston on Election Day that included paper poll shortages and delayed openings of polling places, however waved off an unfolding investigation by state police as political.

Malfunctioning machines and lengthy traces had been additionally reported final week at a few of the almost 800 polling places in Harris County, which is house to almost 5 million folks and has beforehand been on the middle of clashes in Texas over elections. Some voting rights teams have expressed concern the investigation might be utilized by the GOP to justify further voting restrictions.

State election officers have mentioned they heard of no widespread voting issues in Texas, the place Republicans resoundingly gained each statewide workplace and turnout was decrease than within the 2018 midterms.

However Republican Gov. Greg Abbott this week mentioned “widespread issues” in Harris County — which Democrats comfortably carried in statewide races — warrant investigation. That was adopted by the the native district legal professional, Democrat Kim Ogg, asking the Texas Rangers to look into “alleged irregularities” that she mentioned may embody felony conduct, though her workplace has not publicly mentioned what particular allegations warrant investigating.

Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo, a Democrat who narrowly gained reelection because the county’s chief government in opposition to a Republican challenger, mentioned she’s going to ask native election division to enhance. However she mentioned difficulties at polling websites weren’t intentional and accused critics of stoking conspiracies.

“It’s no shock that each one this occurs within the largest county in Texas, when clearly the parents which might be peddling this didn’t like the end result of the elections on this county,” she mentioned.

Clifford Tatum, the county’s elections administrator, informed commissioners Tuesday that one polling location opened “critically late” and that some ran out of paper, resulting in election judges sending voters to different places.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, mentioned one polling location had hassle getting extra paper after being given sufficient for less than 600 ballots. He mentioned the difficulties undermine public confidence in elections.

“This isn’t about election denial. These are actual voter irregularities that should be investigated,” Bettencourt mentioned.

The Texas Division of Public Security, which incorporates the Texas Rangers, didn’t instantly return a message Thursday in search of remark in regards to the investigation.

At Tuesday’s commissioners courtroom assembly, Tatum mentioned an early evaluation discovered the necessity for a revamped communication system between the precinct choose and the decision middle that handles requests for assist. Greater than two dozen folks spoke on the assembly, which at one level grew so heated that commissioners paused the proceedings.

“We now have an elections plan. We adopted the plan. Among the plan didn’t go as anticipated,” Tatum mentioned.

Delayed openings at a dozen polling locations on Nov. 8 resulted in a choose extending voting by one hour within the nation’s third-most populous county. However the Texas Supreme Court docket later stayed that order, leading to provisional ballots solid throughout that point being put apart.

The smaller Bell County, which Republicans carried, additionally prolonged voting by one hour due to technical issues. County officers mentioned nobody challenged the greater than 300 ballots solid throughout that point.

Democrat Rodney Ellis, a former state senator and now a Harris County commissioner, acknowledged the county ought to have had extra election sources however mentioned officers had been adjusting to new guidelines handed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. These included necessities for paper voting methods, which had bipartisan help.

Harris County isn’t any stranger to frustration and anger over voting. In March, the county’s earlier election administrator appointed by Democrats, Isabel Longoria, resigned after points within the March major that included about 10,000 mail ballots that weren’t counted the day of the election and an absence of ballot staff.

Late-returning vote counts in Harris County have lengthy pissed off election watchers in Texas, together with when native Republican officers had been answerable for the method. The county’s efforts to broaden voting in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 additionally spurred Republicans to impose new restrictions that took impact this yr, together with a ban on drive-thru voting and 24-hour polling places.

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Weber reported from Austin, Texas.

__ Comply with the AP’s election protection of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.