HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and the Texas Rangers announced criminal charges Tuesday that they believe are related to the November 2022 election.
An employee who worked in the elections supervisor’s office is accused of falsifying time cards. Investigators say he held a second full-time job in addition to his work for the county for 15 months.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the election official will be charged with theft and five counts of tampering with government documents.
According to ABC13’s news partners at the Houston Chronicle, this is the result of a Texas Rangers investigation into the November 2022 election in Harris County, prompted by state leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott.
The 2022 elections came under criticism due to their conduct and the multitude of problems.
Some of the problems occurred during early voting.
A month after the midterm elections, the Harris County Elections Board released a 54-page report outlining what happened during early voting, on Election Day, and after Election Day.
According to the report, problems ranged from machine error messages and paper jams causing problems with ballots to blaming the United States Postal Service for mail-in voting issues.
A lack of material is also said to have been a problem. On election day, 68 polling stations ran out of paper. 61 polling stations received additional supplies.
On Tuesday, Ogg said there was no evidence the election official tried to influence the election. She said his job on Election Day was to distribute ballots to polling places.
“We know this was a failure,” Oggs said of the worker’s alleged crime. “He didn’t do his job for Harris County. He can’t work two full-time jobs and give them the recognition and attention they need.”
The Texas Rangers discovered the time card fraud while investigating complaints related to the 2022 election.
In 2023, lawsuits were filed against the election results.
An audit by the Texas Secretary of State’s office also found that “several errors” may have prevented some voters from casting their ballots, but could not say that the outcome of any election was affected.
Following the election, state lawmakers passed a bill to remove the appointed county election official, and the position will now be held by the county clerk.
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