Harris County Rejects Paxton Letter Seeking to Nullify Office of Elections Administration

In response to a letter from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to Harris County which stated that the county failed to follow the Texas Election Code by creating its election administration office, Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday declined to remove Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria, rejecting Paxton’s opinion. 

In July, Harris County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to create an Office of Elections Administrator that “works with the Commissioners Court, the major political parties and other stakeholders to establish an elections infrastructure that facilitates access to the voting process to the citizenry of the third largest county in the United States.”

Last week, Ken Paxton sent a letter to the county attorney’s office stating that Harris County failed to notify the Secretary of State about the creation of the position in a timely manner, nullifying Longoria’s position. 

With the rejection of his letter, the Attorney General is likely to move forward with a potential lawsuit which Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis said is “another blatant attempt to continue his assault on Texas voters.”

Longoria updated Commissioners Court on Tuesday about the Dec. 12 runoff elections, where Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo offered support on whatever she needed to run an election without errors.

The deadline for an official response from the county is December 9th.