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In Harris County, Texas, the third biggest county in America, local officials are reporting 1,090,445 ballots were cast by October 25th. Meanwhile the county told the Secretary of State 1,081,265 votes were cast. A third report said 1,092,521 votes were cast.
Something stinks in Harris County so now the Texas SOS Elections Division in conducting an investigation.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Election Division is seeking clarification from Harris County on discrepancies in election reports submitted to the state.
Observers noted on Monday that as of October 25, Harris County’s published “Daily Record of Early Voting” reported that 1,090,445 voters had cast ballots either by mail or in-person, but the Secretary of State’s website, which reflects data submitted by the county to the state, reported 1,081,265 total votes cast, a difference of 9,180 votes. A third report, the Harris County Early Voting roster, had the total at 1,092,521.
The reports posted on the county’s website warn that the numbers are unofficial, but the significant discrepancy prompted a response from local officials and a query from the state election office.
The Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed to The Texan that on Monday, the Texas Elections Division sent Harris County a formal request for clarification on the submission of their early voting totals.
State Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston), who previously served as the Harris County Voter Registrar, also called on Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins to provide an explanation for the discrepancies.
“Clerk Hollins owes an explanation to the public about which one of these numbers is correct,” said Bettencourt. “Hollins cannot have nearly a nearly 11,000 vote differential on different reports unexplained.”
An election worker handles paperwork as voters cast ballots at an early voting polling location for the 2020 Presidential elections in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020. Texas restrictions allowing only a single drop-box for mail-in ballots in each county were reinstated by a federal appeals court that said the governor's concerns about ballot security outweigh voting-rights activists' worries that millions of voters won't be able to safely access the drop-box. Photographer: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg via Getty Images