Department: Commissioner, Precinct 3
Department Head/Elected Official: Tom Ramsey, P.E.
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable):
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MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWDBE Current Achievement (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: Choose an item.
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request by the Commissioner of Precinct 3 for a discussion and possible action related to the 2022 Primary Election fiasco including, an audit of the 2022 primary election, requesting the Election Commission to terminate the current Elections Administrator based on performance, ask the Election Commission to propose an immediate interim solution, request that the Texas Secretary of State monitor the Election Commission’s proposed solution, consider returning responsibility of the elections to the Harris County Clerk, consider returning responsibility of voter registration to the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector, and request that the Harris County Attorney investigate HR issues within the Election Administrator’s office.
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Background and Discussion:
On March 1, 2022 the Primary Election in Harris County had many irregularities and problems that caused a significant number of voters to lose confidence in the election. These include:
• HarrisVotes.com was down the morning of March 1st, creating confusion of where to vote
• Election equipment malfunctions, including unlocked ballot boxes and issues with scanning the ballots
• The Elections Administrator did not finish the count until roughly 12:30 a.m. on March 3rd, the longest in recent history
• The early vote was not reported by the 7 p.m. deadline on March 1st
• Lack of training for elections staff (per EA precinct judges received 4 hours of training)
• Reports of voters being told they could not vote in their party primary
• Dangerous press communications including false statements by EA Longoria, including claims that parties were “stealing each other’s ballot boxes” and “there’s no damaged ballots”
Expected Impact:
Improve the operations of our county elections and improving faith in our elections system
Alternative Options:
Have a potentially catastrophic 2022 general election in November, and diminish trust in our elections
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
X Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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SFY 22 |
FY 23 |
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Current Position Count for Service |
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Anticipated Implementation Date: 3/8/2022
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Choose an item.
Contact(s) name, title, department: August Williams
Attachments (if applicable):