Losing Republican candidate wants Texas House to void results of his race

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A shedding Republican candidate for the Texas Home of Representatives is difficult his defeat and asking the Legislature to void the outcomes of the election.

Republican Mike Could this week filed what’s often known as an election contest with the Texas secretary of state’s workplace, citing studies of scattered paper poll shortages at “quite a few” polling locations on Election Day. Could misplaced to incumbent Democrat Jon Rosenthal by greater than 6,000 votes in his bid to symbolize Home District 135 within the Houston space.

The secretary of state’s workplace on Tuesday delivered Could’s petition to Home Speaker Dade Phelan, who can refer the competition to a committee for investigation and appoint one other member of the Home as a “grasp” to supervise discovery and proof associated to the contested election. In the event that they aspect with Could and void the outcomes, one other election could be required to resolve the district’s consultant. The Home may also toss the competition by declaring it “frivolous.”

Election Day points as soon as once more pushed Harris County’s election officers again underneath scrutiny, together with from the state’s Republican management. Voting in Harris County was prolonged by court docket order for an additional hour after a few dozen polling locations have been delayed in opening. The county’s elections administrator Clifford Tatum has additionally acknowledged points with inadequate paper ballots at some polling locations, although he mentioned election workers was dispatched to ship further ballots.

The fumbles prompted a lawsuit by the Harris County GOP, which alleged voters have been disenfranchised by the paper shortages. The Harris County district lawyer has since launched an investigation into allegations of “irregularities.” The Texas Election Code contains prison penalties for numerous violations, together with unlawful voting, the unsolicited distribution of mail-in poll functions by native election officers and the failure to distribute election provides.

In his petition, Could argued the outcomes of the election weren’t the “true end result” as a result of election officers “prevented eligible voters from voting.” Could didn’t instantly return a request for remark.

On Friday, Rosenthal’s camp framed Could’s election contest as a part of a nationwide pattern to “deny the end result of an election once you lose.”

“This race demonstrated one of many largest proportion level variations in Harris County, it wasn’t even shut,” Rosenthal’s marketing campaign supervisor, Bailey Stober, mentioned in an announcement. “The opposition introduced himself and his positions and was rejected by voters overwhelmingly. That’s how democracy works.”

The assertion got here quickly after Harris County Legal professional Christian D. Menefee criticized the competition as an effort to “name into query the 2022 election in Harris County and lay the groundwork to pressure a redo.”

It’s unclear how Phelan will deal with the competition. His workplace declined to remark Friday. However Menefee mentioned he was hopeful that Phelan would throw out the problem.

“And I belief that he’ll guarantee a good course of earlier than neutral legislators, with out interference from the state leaders and different elected officers who’ve a historical past of creating baseless claims in opposition to Harris County elections,” Menefee mentioned.

The Home took on an analogous train in 2011 following a problem by Travis County Republican Dan Neil, who, after a recount, misplaced to state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, by 12 votes. The Home finally upheld Howard’s win. She stays within the Texas Legislature.

Up until then, the Legislature had seen 113 election contests since 1846, in response to the Texas Legislative Council, an in-house authorized and analysis arm of the Texas Legislature. The shedding get together, nonetheless, had not managed to show the end result of the election not less than within the final 30 years. Within the one case by which the Home ordered a brand new election in 1981, the winner of the preliminary contest was once more elected.

Harris County, the state’s largest, has in recent times been floor zero for partisan battles over election administration. Since shedding management of the county, Republicans have recurrently challenged new voting initiatives just like the creation of countywide voting that permits voters to solid ballots at any polling place on Election Day in addition to the county’s creation of an elections directors workplace.

The county additionally drew the ire of state Republicans who, in sweeping laws handed in 2021, banned initiatives it championed within the first main election throughout the pandemic — 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting. The county mentioned these voting strategies have been disproportionately utilized by voters of colour.

Harris County will already be the topic of a full post-election audit by the state. The secretary of state’s workplace beforehand chosen the county for evaluation as a part of a brand new audit course of put in place by the Republican laws.

Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full checklist of them right here.