“Counties in each category had an equal chance of being selected, were drawn from strips of paper placed in a bucket, and — although not required by statute — it was done on camera,” Assistant Secretary of State for Communications Sam Taylor said in an email. “The suggestion that Harris County — or any other county — was deliberately chosen for a randomized election audit is completely false.
Commissioners court approved the exploration of Harris County’s legal options with Ellis, County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia voting yes; Precinct 3’s Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle voted no. While Ellis lambasted state officials for what he called voter suppression by restricting voting access and creating long lines at polls, Ramsey said the weak link in local election integrity is at the county level, where officials have struggled in recent years to perform and announce a timely tally of election day results.
In this year’s March primary elections, counting and announcements of results in Harris County were delayed