Texas election fury as inspectors sent to Democratic leaning county for 'serious breaches'
The most populous Texas county is set to have election inspectors perform "randomized checks on election records", according to the state's secretary of state's office.
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Harris County is located in the city of Houston and leans towards the Democratic Party. The Texas Secretary of State's Office said was sending inspectors in to observe "the handling and counting of ballots and electronic media".
In a letter on Tuesday the director of the secretary of state’s forensic audit division, Chad Ennis, told the elections administrator in Harris County, Clifford Tatum, that an audit had found “serious breaches of proper elections records management” in the handling of mobile ballot boxes during the 2020 general election.
Due to these findings Mr Ennis added that the secretary of state’s office will deploy “a contingent of inspectors” to the county.
Mr Ennis explained that the inspectors would “perform randomized checks on election records” and “observe the handling and counting of ballots and electronic media.”
The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has also agreed to dispatch a task force to Harris County, according to Mr Ennis .
The State seems to be setting the stage to try to discredit our upcoming election or, at worst, seeking to interfere. I hope the DOJ can help us protect voting rights in Harris County. pic.twitter.com/gCKsQIZbra
— Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) October 20, 2022
He added that the task force “will be available at all times during the election period in order to immediately respond to any legal issues identified by secretary of state, inspectors, poll watchers, or voters”.
Speaking to NBC News the Secretary of State's office said it usually sends inspectors to a number of counties during elections.
Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, said they were committed to ensuring that next moth's election ran smoothly.
He said: "Our inspectors and trainers will be present to help Harris County officials and ensure the election process is run smoothly and securely in the upcoming November general election, and that the mistakes observed in the past are not repeated, and that no eligible voters have their votes discounted because of administrative errors."
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You know republicans like Douchebag Ken Paxton NEVER LEARN. Voter intimidation doesn't work on people anymore...especially Democrats. Our drive to whoop their asses is unrelenting. So, sending his goons to Harris County will only make people WANT to vote more.
— KT (@sloyoroll01973) October 20, 2022
I was a drive thru election worker in Harris County in 2020. Poll watchers who came thru our site literally drove away voters, entered voting booths when they weren’t supposed to, and pissed off the entire staff by being openly racist and ignoring orders from our Hispanic 1/2
— jojesus (@justjonotjoe) October 19, 2022
Mr Taylor went on to dismiss criticism of the move, arguing that any organisation that depicted the move as "an attempt to sow distrust or intimidate voters" is "lying".
Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched an investigation into voting irregularities during the 2020 elections last year under pressure from former President Donald Trump.
This was despite the fact that Mr Trump won the state during the Presidential election and that no substantial evidence of voting fraud has been found.
All Texas native Lyndon Johnson won Harris County in 1964, it voted Republican in all other presidential elections from 1952 to 2008.
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If having state inspectors is common practice, why even send a public letter like this exclusively to Harris County six days before early voting, except as an intimidation tactic aimed at undermining faith in the elections of Texas’ most diverse county?
— Texas Civil Rights Project (@TXCivilRights) October 20, 2022
However Barack Obama won the county in 2008, a feat repeated by Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.
It is seen as a bellwether in US Presidential elections voting for the winning candidate from 2000 to 2012.
This included voting for former Texas Governor George W Bush in 2000 and 2004.