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State to monitor Harris County elections after audit identifies problems

Texas state elections officials will closely monitor Harris County during the November election, overseeing a range of voting processes after a state-mandated audit found problems the secretary of state said threaten the integrity of elections in the state’s most populous county.
The examination of records for the 2021-22 election season in Harris turned up training issues, paper ballot shortages, voting equipment failures, and poor maintenance of voter rolls, according to a statement last week by Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
Harris was one of four counties audited as part of legislation passed in 2021 that requires the secretary of state to randomly select two smaller counties and two larger counties to audit every two years.
The other three counties were Cameron, Guadalupe and Eastland, none of which will get additional monitoring from the state, the statement says.
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Harris County will have state-assigned inspectors to check election records and “observe the handling and counting of ballots and electronic media during the November 2024 election period,” the report says.
“Although Harris County has since made changes to its election administration, the findings highlighted in this audit and the prior audit show that an enhanced presence by the Secretary’s office is necessary for the November 2024 election,” the statement reads.
Among the issues caused by the problems identified in the 108-page Harris County audit were polls being unable to open on time or stay open consistently on election days.
During the March 2022 primary election, 33 locations in the county had gaps of one hour or more in the voter check-in process. Of those, 25 reported equipment malfunctions and seven were due to lack of paper ballots. One was blamed on late equipment delivery, the report said.
Those issues and others triggered criticism from the state’s GOP leadership, which has been battling for years with the elections officials in the county of 4.8 million people — one of the state’s longest-standing Republican strongholds until it turned decidedly blue in 2016.
Nelson initially signaled the same concerns a year ago when her office released early findings from the audit, a few months after the elections administrator’s office was closed. She said at the time that a repeat of similar problems in the November 2024 elections would be “unacceptable.”
Harris County elections officials said last week they were still reviewing the audit but noted the problems outlined in the report have been addressed since the Texas Legislature dissolved the county’s elections administrator’s office last year and placed responsibility for elections under the county clerk and the tax assessor-collector.
“We will continue to ensure that the concerns that plagued the now-defunct Elections Administrator’s Office are not revisited,” Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said Friday in a written statement. “The Harris County Clerk’s Office remains committed to upholding the highest standards of transparency, efficiency, and accuracy. We will continue to work diligently to maintain the public’s trust in the electoral process and work with the Secretary of State’s Office.”
Audits of the other counties turned up locally driven efforts to shore up their elections processes and a few minor issues that were already cleared up by the time the report came out.
In Cameron, officials slipped up on new rules regarding rejected absentee ballot applications but rectified the situation. The report lauded elections officials in that border county for its training in the law, processes and voting equipment.
No issues were identified in Guadalupe County, in the Texas Hill Country.
The state noted issues with how elections officials in Eastland County, west of Fort Worth, tracked elections equipment and supplies but said the county was showing progress.
“After reviewing multiple elections, it is evident that Eastland County has made a considerable effort to improve their process and procedure with each election,” the audit says.
Earlier this month, Nelson drew the next four counties to come under audit over the next two years: Bell, Val Verde, Brazoria, and Real.

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