Harris County Commissioners Court OKs lawsuit over random state election audit

Harris County Commissioners Court, by a 3-2 partisan vote, agreed to explore legal options, including a possible lawsuit, to challenge the results of a random drawing by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office that means another round of election scrutiny for Texas’ largest county. “It ought to be the state of Texas that is audited,” said Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who proposed the lawsuit. “This place has gone back to the bad old days.” Harris County learned last week it was one of two large counties chosen for an election audit by state officials, under new procedures lawmakers approved for election scrutiny. It is the second audit of Harris County, after another approved weeks following the 2020 general election.

Procedures for the upcoming audit, which covers both the 2020 and 2022 elections, have not been outlined by the state yet, said Beth Stevens, Harris County’s interim elections administrator. Under the 2021 law passed by the Texas Legislature, four counties are to be selected at random for election audits. Two of the four are to be counties with populations under 300,000, and two are to be counties of 300,000 or more residents. Eighteen counties in Texas have a population of more than 300,000. Harris and Cameron counties were the two large ones chosen in a drawing from a bucket, the Secretary of State’s office announced; Eastland and Guadalupe counties were the two small counties selected. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, however, questioned the authenticity of the drawing, saying the broadcast of the drawing “looks like a video out of a sketch comedy show.” “The camera does not show the slips going into the bucket,” Menefee said, noting various aspects of the drawing that are not filmed. “They don’t even show the slips to the camera.”