HOUSTON – Texas’ election chief says “damaged ballot sheets” in Houston is slowing down vote-counting in the state’s largest county.
Texas Secretary of State John Scott said Tuesday night just after polls closed that Harris County election administrators told his office they won’t be able to report all votes before a required deadline of 24 hours after polls close. He cited damaged ballots that that must be duplicated before being scanned.
Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the office, said Harris County will still be reporting results but indicated they won’t be able to perform a full report by the deadline.
“They told us they should be able to report most if not all early vote totals, but Election Day totals will be severely delayed,” Taylor said.
A spokeswoman for the Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Harris County has nearly 2.5 million registered voters and has come under criticism in past elections over long lines and being slow to post voting results.
Scott said his office was “closely monitoring” ballot counting in Harris County, a Democratic stronghold that was at the center of Republican efforts to tighten voting restrictions in Texas after offering drive-thru and 24-hour polling locations in 2020.
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