Texas State Senate passes bill on election oversight in Harris County

HOUSTON – The fate of elections in Harris County could look a lot different after a bill aimed at giving the Texas Secretary of State administrative oversight passed on Sunday.

Democratic leaders, including Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo called this move a “power grab,” as the bill, notably SB1933, now heads to the governor’s desk.

Controversial bill passed by Texas senate would allow redo of Harris County elections if ballot paper runs out

The bill also authorizes the Texas Secretary of State to have complete oversight of a county elections office if a complaint is filed. The measure would affect any county that has a population of four million or more.

Voting rights activists accused the Republican-controlled state legislature of attempting to control a county that has leaned Democratic in recent elections.

“The two Texas election subversion bills have now passed,” Hidalgo said in a tweet. “They remove Harris County’s nonpartisan Election Administrator and empower a Republican state official to micromanage elections in Texas’ largest (Democratic) County. This is a shameless power grab and dangerous precedent.”

Republican leaders said their move is to provide voters with confidence in their elections.

“It’s addressing a very specific problem…you know, we had 253 counties that had no issues really with ballot paper… and we had one that did and we just want to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Sen. Mays Middleton, R-Galveston.

The Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office said they are planning to take legal action.