Republicans are creating a new slate of punishments for the county officials who run elections, arguing they overstepped their authority when they expanded voter access during the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris County debuts new machines as early voting begins
Election Day is May 1 for several key municipal races and key propositions, including the Pearland ISD school board and Katy ISD bonds. Author: Adam Bennett Updated: 6:49 PM CDT April 19, 2021
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas Early voting started Monday for the May 1 municipal elections.
Voters in cities across the Houston area are deciding on everything from mayors to school board members to bond referendums.
The nearly 400,000 Harris County voters eligible for this election will be voting on new machines.
New devices are touch screen and create a paper ballot, it s not only captured electronically for faster reporting on Election Night but possible recounts.
By Nik Rajkovic
Apr 12, 2021
Election integrity remains a top priority in Austin where state lawmakers continue to push legislation to tighten up the process and increase the punishment for violators.
One is House Bill 6, which aims to prevent fraud, while increasing criminal penalties. Jonathan White, head of the election fraud division at the Texas AG s Office, recently told lawmakers his office is currently handling a record number of cases.
“Our cases are currently at an all-time high,” he told the House Elections Committee this month. “We have 510 offenses pending against 43 defendants in court right now.”
“We have a lot of mail ballot fraud cases and that universe is pretty small around that case. That investigation is pretty straight forward. But vote harvesting touches an entire community of senior citizens across multiple individuals working in an organization, sometimes in different layers.”
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