(FROM 2022) Spring '22 Harris County Primaries
A Horror Story
Incompetent Malfeasance…
This report was compiled based on information widely reported by local and state media sources. This is not an attack on any single individual involved in the Harris County Elections Department. It is the opinion of this author that the catastrophic failures witnessed in Harris County’s March 2022 primaries were the result of a group effort to abandon traditional election procedures, and to thwart state election laws in favor of suspect legal opinions issued by county and state legal counsels.
The issues witnessed in Harris County seem to have arisen from the lack of concern over appointing qualified applicants to county positions on part of the Harris County Election Commission as well as the Harris County Commissioners Court.
Solutions are Being Proposed.
Enforcement of existing Election Codes is most crucial to the administration of our State elections. Enforcement mechanisms seem to be absent from our State Election Codes, as are due penalties for violation of certain protocols laid out by the Legislature, as Constitutionally ordained. Censures may be in order for weak or harmful legislation, and for anyone resisting requests to adhere to State Law. The Secretary of State has a duty to advise county officials on how to adhere to State Election Codes
Where Do We Begin?
Initially we must look to those entities responsible for sourcing, vetting and appointing candidates to the position of County Elections Administrator. This position is not one that is statutorily required to exist in a county’s Elections Department, however, should a county choose to appoint an Elections Administrator (EA), there are statutory requirements for the process of appointing a candidate for this position. This process begins in the County Election Commission, who nominates candidates for the position as statutorily required.
What is an Election Commission?
County Election Commissions consist of five positions; County Judge, Tax Assessor, County Clerk, and the two county party chairs. For the Spring 2022 Primary Season, at least, these positions were filled by the following county leaders: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Tax Assessor Ann Bennet, County Clerk Marilyn Burgess, Democrat Party Chair Lillie Schechter, and finally Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel. These local leaders, collectively, selected one Isabella Longoria (pictured above) for the position of Harris County Elections Administrator. This nomination simply needed approval by the County Commissioners, who took the recommendation of the Election Commission as gospel, without question, and confirmed their nomination of Isabella for the role of Harris County Elections Administrator.
Experience Matters.
It has been widely reported that Isabella Longoria lacked any experience with managing elections of any kind, and this knowledge seems to be well established and understood. If this is not the case, and Longoria did, in fact, have experience in managing elections, the facts of the 2022 primaries do not reflect that fact. The facts that will be detailed below are egregious examples of maladministration, potential criminal activity, and a blatant disregard for Texas Election Laws.
Discovering the Issues:
It would appear that the first of many issues was made apparent at Harris County Early Voting Polling Locations, and Harris County voters were the first to notice that something wasn’t quite right. The PVRs (Printed Vote Records) were having trouble passing through the BMDs (Ballot Marking Devices) and paper jams were a common phenomenon. Scanner/ tabulators also had issues accepting ballots, according to local witnesses, and this appears to have been directly related to a lack of maintenance. Confirmed by local reporting, Isabella Longoria neglected to actually clean the machines in any way. Dirty components and clogged portals were discovered upon inspection of the machines used in the March Primaries. This very serious oversight is a direct effect of EA Longoria’s inexperience in managing elections of any kind before her appointment as the authority figure in one of the largest counties in Texas. Additional effects of this oversight include: damaged ballots, ballots requiring duplication - causing the Harris County Republican Party to surpass the deadline for certification of results, and furthermore requiring the Harris County Republican Party to obtain a court order allowing the count of ballots to continue.
Isabella Longoria reportedly failed to implement HART’s maintenance and calibration schedule per the county’s contract. She had no system in place for accounting and tracking of election equipment and machines by location or team. Isabella also failed to provide Chain of Custody forms to election department employees and judges, who reported that they were denied these forms and equipment check-out protocols for their machines, and were informed that no such forms were being used in this election cycle.
Isabella issued an apology for her lack of preparation of above stated forms, as well as for not being ready to deliver supplies. Some judges reported being forced to wait over three hours at their assigned polling locations for their election equipment to arrive, resulting in late opening of the polls and infuriated voters. To add to this particular issue, Isabella had equipment mistakenly delivered to no less than twelve locations.
Reports from local canvassing authorities detail, per reconciliation forms, that approximately 10,000 BBMs (Ballot By Mail) were potentially missing. Ballot board members reportedly admitted to “forgetting to count” 101 BBMs in their possession.
Hundreds of uncounted ballots were located at “Rally Stations/ Rally Sites” across the county. Rally Sites/Stations are pit-stops the polling staff uses as a drop-off location for election records, rather than taking the records straight to Central Count for proper recording, storage and tabulation.
According to reports, around twelve scanners “went missing” and obviously had no Chain of Custody form with which to track their handlers and whereabouts, and Constables had to be deployed to retrieve them from their last known locations, or to investigate their movement through the county.
Another amazing aspect of this particular election cycle was the cumulative report detailing the incredible turnout for county precinct 0400 at 2500%, with only one registered voter and no appointed Precinct Chair. That has to be a record, as the most comparable Texas precinct would be in Tarrant County from the 2020 General Election, precinct 220 had over 800% turnout.
Isabella is reportedly slated for resignation as of July 1st, 2022, allowing her to manage several more election cycles in the county.
This report is from the spring of 2022, and since this disaster of a primary election, the Texas has passed a constitutional amendment preventing Harris County from allowing only one person to manage all aspects of their elections. A simple internet search will bring up the following:
“As of September 1, 2023, Harris County is no longer allowed to have an appointed elections administrator due to Senate Bill 1750, which was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court.82 This law requires Harris County to shift the functions of the elections administrator back to the elected county clerk and county tax assessor-collector.”
Thank you,
Aubree
©Aubree Campbell 2022