HOUSTON — As an extended delay in reporting voting totals in Iowa continued Tuesday, party officials in the Houston area said they’re working to make sure things run smoothly in the Texas March primaries.
Harris County, the state’s largest county, is no stranger to voting problems. Mishaps have happened in March and November.
In Texas primaries, political parties run the show and contract with the county clerk to help run machines, deliver equipment and count votes.
While Iowans hold meetings to select their candidates, Texans go to the ballot box.
“We don’t have the problem that Iowa has of trying to count delegates through a caucus process, and they’ve come up with this app that they had problems with,” said Paul Simpson, Chair of the Harris County Republican Party. “Here it’s the same machines that folks have been used to: reliable, it’s never connected to the internet, not hackable.”
The March 2020 primary will be Harris County’s first with countywide vote centers. That means registered voters can go to any of the 350-plus Election Day polling places that Republicans and Democrats will now share.
Past primaries saw some Election Day voting locations differ by party, which led to confusion from voters and long lines.
“We’re making sure that we have trained and experienced election judges that have been doing this for years,” said Giordaun Baity, Elections Director for the Harris County Democratic Party. “They’ll be going to supplemental training. Our clerks are gonna have separate training from our judges cause they are the front line.”
However, even with countywide voting, it took county election workers 12 hours to count results on Election Day in November 2019.
Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman blamed it on a last-minute rule change by the Secretary of State, whose staff disputes that.
“For this election we will have four drop-off locations versus that one,” Baity said. “We have full confidence in the county clerk’s office.”
“I think we’ve been encouraged that the County Clerk has worked with us and the Secretary of State to make that process quicker and more efficient,” Simpson said.
A spokesperson for the Harris County Clerk’s Office said comparing how Texas and Iowa choose candidates is “an apples to oranges comparison because every state has different guidelines.”
She added her office will hold a meeting for media, candidates, and the parties to go over Election Night reporting procedures before the March 3 primary.
Early voting starts Feb. 18.
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