FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2023
Media Contact: Sam Somogye
HOUSTON — This morning, attorney Andy Taylor filed an intervention on behalf of the Harris County GOP to support the State of Texas’ passage of SB 1750, the bill that returns the authority of running Harris County elections back to elected officials and to fight the Harris County Democrat-led government’s lawsuit to overturn this critical legislation.
“Harris County’s government continues to prove their top priority is hiding in the shadows instead of taking the proper steps to ensure we have well-run, safe, and secure elections, which is made even worse considering they’re using taxpayer dollars to fund this frivolous lawsuit against the State,” said Harris County GOP Chairman Cindy Siegel.
“During my tenure as Harris County GOP Chair, we have seen the gross mismanagement of the elections from the 2022 primary to the general election by the Harris County Elections Administrator. The voters of Harris County deserve better. They deserve the opportunity to hold the people running their elections accountable rather than an appointed government bureaucrat. SB 1750 allows just that by returning the responsibility of running elections to duly elected officials, the Harris County Clerk and Tax Assessor-Collector.
“16 percent of Texas voters reside in Harris County. So when Harris County elections suffer, Texas elections suffer. Under every Harris County Elections Administrator, voters have paid the price for their unlawfulness, negligence, and lack of transparency. As a result, Texas elections continue to be compromised, and the voters are the ones who are ultimately burdened.
“In any other scenario, under any leadership that has a shred of integrity, Clifford Tatum would have been fired a long time ago due to the many failures of his office. Yet, Democrat leadership refuses to hold him accountable. Since the voters can’t, they’re trying to stop legislation that would give voters hiring and firing power over who runs their elections.”
Harris County GOP attorney Andy Taylor added the following.
“Since November 2020, Harris County’s Elections Administrator’s office has run the county’s elections. The first administrator, Isabel Longoria, resigned amidst heavy criticism of her performance after overseeing a disastrous primary in 2022. The current administrator, Clifford Tatum, oversaw an election this past November where multiple polling locations ran out of ballot paper, forcing election judges to turn thousands of innocent voters away from their neighborhood polling locations.
“SB 1750 empowers voters with the electoral ability to fix this atrocity by returning the job of running elections back into the hands of its two elected officials. In so doing, voters can regain their power to vote an elected official out of office when they fail to perform their duties.”
View the filing HERE.
View the full press release HERE.
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