Harris County primary election: Kim Ogg was unable to vote; county clerk offers explanation
HOUSTON - Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who is running for reelection, was not able to cast a ballot for the primary election on Tuesday morning because a ballot had already been cast in her name, officials say.
In a statement, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said that Ogg’s partner, who is registered to vote at the same address, voted on Friday under the district attorney’s name.
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"In the process of qualifying a voter, each voter is asked to review and confirm the information that appears on the iPad screen, including the voter’s name. If the information that appears on the screen is not accurate, the voter must notify the election clerk. In this instance, the DA’s partner must not have noticed that the information was not hers, and proceeded to sign in and vote under DA Ogg’s name. We believe this is the case because DA Ogg’s partner signed her own name as confirmation," Hudspeth said in the statement.
Hudspeth stated that the issue has been resolved, and Ogg has been able to vote.
Read Hudspeth’s full statement below:
"An incident occurred this morning when DA Kim Ogg went to the polls and was unable to cast a ballot because a ballot had already been cast in her name. Last Friday, DA Ogg’s partner, who is registered to vote at the same address as DA Ogg, voted in the primary elections under DA Ogg’s name.
In the process of qualifying a voter, each voter is asked to review and confirm the information that appears on the iPad screen, including the voter’s name. If the information that appears on the screen is not accurate, the voter must notify the election clerk. In this instance, the DA’s partner must not have noticed that the information was not hers, and proceeded to sign in and vote under DA Ogg’s name. We believe this is the case because DA Ogg’s partner signed her own name as confirmation.
Clerical errors can occur at the polls. It is the voter’s responsibility to verify that their information on the iPad screen is correct before they are issued a poll code.
We were able to assist DA Ogg with rectifying this voter error so she can cast her ballot. The pollbook has been updated, and DA Ogg has voted.
Ogg is on the ballot for the Democratic primary election against challenger Sean Teare.