Harris Co. GOP party sues county, election administrator
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - The Harris County GOP party has filed a 22-page lawsuit against the county and its Election Administrator, Clifford Tatum.
This announcement came on the same day Governor Greg Abbott called for an investigation.
RELATED: Abbott calls for investigation into Harris County's 2022 midterm elections
"The plaintiff is the Harris County Republican Party and the defendants are the election administrator and Harris County itself," says Andy Taylor, Election Lawyer and legal counsel for the Harris County GOP Party.
On Monday, the Harris County GOP party said in a press conference that last Tuesday’s Election Day was botched.
Election Day had several acknowledged issues. The election administrator held a press conference the following day.
"This election was so botched that there’s no way to be confident in the outcomes in the close races," says Taylor. "You literally cannot ascertain the winner vs. the loser."
Harris County GOP hold press conference on 2022 midterm elections investigation
Officials with the Harris County GOP held a press conference after Governor Greg Abbott called for an investigation into the 2022 midterm elections when voters faced widespread issues including staffing shortages, broken machines and scanners, and paper shortages.
The Republican party believes some of those issues were intentional in Republican strongholds in the county.
"We’ve seen more problems, more egregious problems, that we saw last Tuesday. Staffing problems, polls not opening on time, they didn’t have the equipment," says Cindy Siegel, Chairman of Harris County Republican Party. "There were many polls that had maybe a third of its equipment working and the most egregious was that we had polls that actually ran out of paper."
Elections Administrator, Tatum released a statement Monday:
"The Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office is fully committed to transparency regarding the processes and procedures implemented for the November 8, 2022, Midterm Elections. As already established, Harris County has been selected to participate in the 2022 SOS Audit and has been in communication with the SOS Auditing team regarding this election. The office is currently completing vote tabulation of provisional ballots in reparation for the statutorily required manual count that must occur before canvassing. The last day to Canvas is November 22, 2022. The office is currently reviewing issues and claims made about Election Day and will include these findings in a post-elections report to be shared promptly with the Harris County Elections Commission and the County Commissioner Court."
SUGGESTED: Harris County GOP leaders claim voting issues for November 8 election could be intentional
The announcement of the lawsuit also comes on the same day Gov. Abbott has called on the Secretary of State, The Attorney General’s Office, and the Texas Rangers to initiate an investigation.
In response, Harris County Precinct One, Commissioner Rodney Ellis said in a statement:
"Taking a page from Trump’s 2020 election subversion playbook, Governor Abbott and election deniers across Texas have laid the groundwork to cast doubt on Harris County’s midterm elections for over a year. Before votes were ever cast or counted, they weaponized partisan election probes, conspiracy theories, and anti-democracy laws, like SB 1, to put this play into motion. The people rejected those tactics last Tuesday, and I’m confident that democracy will still win the day."