Harris County elections chief responds to critics questioning election integrity

Harris County Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum, speaking at length publicly for the first time since last week's problem-plagued Election Day, pledged a complete assessment of voting issues Tuesday but said the county is in "dire need" of improvements to the way it conducts elections. "A full assessment is in order," Tatum told Harris County Commissioners Court Tuesday. "We have started that assessment, but I'd like to remind you and the public we are still counting votes." He said his office still was working its way through about 2,100 provisional ballots cast after 7 p.m. last Tuesday. A state district judge ordered the county to keep the polls open until 8 p.m. because some voting locations failed to open on time. Those provisional ballots are being kept separate from the unofficial count, pending a court ruling on the validity of those votes.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered an investigation into "allegations of improprieties in the way that the 2022 elections were conducted in Harris County." Tatum told Commissioners Court his staff is contacting each election judge to gather feedback and assess challenges they faced, including any technical difficulties and the response they received. At least one polling place had a late opening and certain locations ran out of paper, Tatum confirmed. Tatum took over the job in August, just two months before early voting in the November election began. So far, he noted the county is in "dire need" of some critically needed improvements, including a better communication system, more maintenance and operations personnel and a tracking system for monitoring requests from the election workers running polling locations. Tatum said he has spoken with election judges who requested technical help and did not receive it. "Because I can't track that technician within the system that I have, I can't tell you what happened," Tatum said. The Harris County Republican Party filed a lawsuit against Tatum and the county on Monday, alleging several violations of the Texas Election code and claimed paper shortages at 23 out of 782 voting locations amounted to voter suppression.