FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2023
Media Contact: Sam Somogye, 832-525-1498
HOUSTON — Today, the Texas House passed critical legislation restoring accountability to Harris County elections. SB 1750 rightfully returns the responsibility of running elections to duly elected officials rather than a partisan appointee.
“The Elections Administrator’s office has been a colossal failure since the moment it was formed,” said Harris County GOP Chairman Cindy Siegel. “The responsibility of running elections should have never been taken away from the Harris County Clerk and Tax Assessor-Collector, both elected officials, to begin with.
“The only things we’ve seen come from the Elections Administrator’s office are mismanagement and incompetence, resulting in countless missteps that have led to grossly underserving Harris County voters. Ultimately, if the EA could pull off an election without major problems, the state legislature wouldn’t have had to step in. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen from unprecedented issues, whether that be missing ballots or ballot paper shortages and everything in between, they can’t get it right. Someone eventually has to step in and say, ‘Enough,’ and today, the Texas Legislature did exactly that by passing SB 1750.
“I would like to thank Senator Paul Bettencourt for authoring this bill and the entire Harris County delegation of Republicans for seeing this through to the end, and I look forward to Governor Abbott signing SB 1750 into law.”
Background:
- The Texan: Democrat District Attorney Requests Texas Rangers for Criminal Investigation Into Harris County Election
- Washington Post: Texas investigating voting difficulties in Houston’s Harris County
- VIDEO: Harris County GOP Press Conference on Elections Administrator’s Failure to Properly Manage the Election
- Harris County GOP Addresses Elections Administrator’s Latest Blunder, Violating Texas Election Code
- Houston Chronicle Editorial: Sorry, Dems. Republicans aren’t to blame for Harris County election woes.
- Harris County GOP, RNC, and RPT Release Statement on Harris County Election Failures; Elections Administrator’s Resignation
- Fox News: Texas county elections administrator resigns after voting mishaps, including 10,000 uncounted mail-in ballots
###