Texas Republicans have muscled through legislation allowing unprecedented state interventions into elections in Harris County, the most populous Texas county, threatening to drastically overhaul elections in the Democratic stronghold. With VotebeatUS:
, a Harris County Republican, grants the Texas secretary of state the authority to investigate election “irregularities” after complaints are filed — but only in counties with more than 4 million people, which means just Harris County.
Failure to conduct maintenance activities on the lists of registered voters as required under the Texas Election Code. If such problems aren’t resolved, the secretary of state could then get rid of Harris County election officials, though a second bill passed by Republicans,, could make that more complex. That bill removes Harris County’s elections administrator position, reshaping how the county oversees elections.
Last November, Harris County had to extend voting for an hour after various polling places had malfunctioning voting machines, paper ballot shortages and long waiting periods. More than 20from losing Republican candidates have been filed against the county, citing those problems and seeking a redo of the election.
Weeks later, when the bill made it to the House chamber, it was amended behind closed doors and without any public input until it eventually affected only counties with a population of more than 4 million residents, meaning only Harris County.
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