Election security: Republicans and Democrats reach bipartisan agreement that voting in Harris County will be secure in November

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Republicans and Democrats agreed on little in the lead-up to the election, but local officials from both parties said they believed voting in Harris County should be safe.

An audit of Harris County’s 2021 and 2022 elections found several problems. Republicans have since passed election security laws that they say will protect votes. The district’s chief election official, a Democrat, said she has spent the last eight to 12 months getting her office to provide accurate results.

“We are the largest county in the state of Texas. Nobody does it like we do,” said Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth.

The way Harris County conducts elections has changed since the last presidential election.

In 2021, Republicans passed laws they said were designed to improve election integrity and revamp the voter registration process. The laws also limited voting by mail, 24/7, and drive-thru voting and notably removed the election administrator’s office in Harris County.

“I think election security in Harris County has improved significantly compared to 2022.” We brought back an elected county clerk as well as an elected tax assessor to conduct elections under the supervision of the secretary of state, and that has already made a huge difference,” Republican State Senator. This was stated by Paul Bettencourt.

Bettencourt touted these legislative changes as a reason why voters should feel more confident about the process in Harris County, while questioning the integrity of voter rolls statewide.

“The problem we have is that there is no citizenship list in the country that the registrar of voters can check and find out whether that person is a citizen or not,” Bettencourt said.

Allison Clapman of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program said their research has consistently shown that voter fraud to a level that could affect election results is a myth.

However, repeated and false claims could make voting more difficult, especially in Texas, where less than 46% of registered voters cast ballots in 2022, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

About 20% of the voting age population was not registered.

“The solution to this problem is more resources, more training, fewer last-minute rules and a lot of legislation between elections that changes the rules and makes the job of administrators more difficult,” Clapman said.

Part of Harris County’s work is combating voter misinformation and increasing confidence in the election process.

“Voters must be confident that when they come to vote in this election, all citizens, including their neighbors, their family members and their church members who sign up as election workers, will be people just like themselves. are working hard, and without them the election won’t happen,” Hudspeth said.

Betancourt said he also has confidence in the county clerk and her office, which goes hand in hand with the measures Republicans have taken to secure the vote.

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