Episode 152: ADM for November 28, 2022: Finger Pointing in Harris County Texas After Problems Apparently Disenfranchised Voters

American Democracy Minute

Finger Pointing in Harris County Texas After Problems Apparently Disenfranchised Voters
Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

Washington Post - Texas investigating voting difficulties in Houston’s Harris County
Vote Beat Texasx/Texas Tribune - Here’s why we still don’t know what went wrong in Harris County on Election Day
Texas Freedom Network - Statement: Judge Rules Harris County Polling Locations Stay Open Until 8 PM
Fox News - Texas Supreme Court allows Harris County to count 2,000 votes after Election Day extension
NBC News - Double standard? Texas assigns unusual urgency to Democratic county's election mishaps

Groups Taking Action:
Texas Organizing Project, Texas Civil Rights Project, Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund (MALDEF)

Today's Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
There is still a lot of finger pointing in Harris County, Texas, after widespread November 8th ballot shortages and other problems. While partisan accusations and a lawsuit have been leveled, it appears that a combination of lack of preparedness and voting machine problems were the problem, not fraud.
The Washington Post and Votebeat Texas report that Harris County’s system didn’t have enough paper ballots in at least 23 of its 782 polling places. When precinct officials called for additional ballots, knowing they would run out, resupplies ran out or didn’t arrive for hours. The shortage reportedly resulted in hundreds of voters being turned away.
Complicating matters, Harris County doesn’t have common problem reporting software which could help monitor problems at polling places. Such a system could have helped distribute ballots to places which needed them.
One precinct in Houston initially couldn’t get its 60 voting machines to work in the morning, forcing a delay in opening. Election officials noted it was human error, not a conspiracy.
The Harris County GOP filed a lawsuit, claiming that the lack of ballots disenfranchised voters, and one GOP election official claimed Harris County election officials intentionally withheld ballots for partisan reasons. Democrats pointed to problems in heavily Democratic precincts, too. State police are investigating, and Harris County is conducting an internal review to assess just how many voters were disenfranchised.
We have links to articles and resources at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.