Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday called for an investigation into how Harris County runs elections, citing problems and delays including missing keys, insufficient paper ballots in Republican precincts, and staffing problems he said left voters frustrated and confused.
“I’m calling on the Secretary of State, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Texas Rangers to initiate investigations into allegations of improprieties in the way that the 2022 elections were conducted in Harris County,” Abbott said in a statement.
“The allegations of election improprieties in our state’s largest county may result from anything ranging from malfeasance to blatant criminal conduct. Voters in Harris County deserve to know what happened. Integrity in the election process is essential. To achieve that standard, a thorough investigation is warranted.”
I’m calling for an investigation into the widespread problems with the Harris County elections last Tuesday.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 14, 2022
The allegations of election improprieties in our state’s largest county may result from anything ranging from malfeasance to blatant criminal conduct.
The Harris County GOP on Monday announced a lawsuit against local election officials in a bid to expose what they say are systemic issues with how county officials have been running elections.
“We’re doing this in order to shed light on what has been happening, how Harris County actually runs their elections,” said Harris County GOP Chair Cindy Siegel at a press conference.
“What we’ve seen over the past year, instead of it being just a few incidents of breakdowns and how the process has been run, we’ve seen what’s turned out to be a systemic cancer in how Harris County actually runs its elections.”
Call for Investigation ‘Laughable’: Democrats
Harris County Democratic Party Chair Odus Evbagharu downplayed Abbott’s call for an investigation, saying it is “yet another example of the political theater we’ve come to expect from our state leader.”
