Former Harris County employee Darryl Blackburn has been charged with theft and tampering with government documents in connection with his role in the county’s November 2022 election in which several polling places ran out of paper ballots.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg made the announcement Tuesday afternoon. However, both Ogg and Harris County Felony Chief Prosecutor Mike Levine stressed that the Texas Rangers’ investigation into the election had not found an intention to disrupt the election to benefit one party over the other.
“The motive here was much simpler and much older,” Levine said Tuesday. “It was greed.”
Blackburn, who worked as a data analyst with Harris County’s now-dismantled election administrator’s office, faces six felony charges — five alleging he tampered with government documents and one regarding alleged theft by a public servant.
“This individual was specifically assigned to see that paper was allocated properly in all of the polling locations,” Ogg said. “He had other responsibilities equally as important but this is really the nuts and bolts of the election.”
Ogg emphasized that the allocation of the paper ballots was “at the heart” of much of the problem during the election. Local and statewide leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott, asked the Texas Rangers to look into reports of ballot paper shortages at more than 20 of Harris County’s more than 700 polling locations shortly after the election.
Levine said the five tampering charges are each punishable by up to two years in jail. The theft charge is a third-degree felony, and if convicted Blackburn could serve an additional 10 years.
Levine said Blackburn was hired to manage allocations during the early-voting period and on Election Day. He added that the investigation found that while the county employed Blackburn, he worked a second full-time job at an oil and gas company in The Woodlands.
“This is not somebody who said they left work at 3 p.m. and left at 4 p.m. This is 15 months of sustained double-dipping on time sheets,” Levine said. “He worked exclusively from home for Harris County, yet frequently worked in person at his other higher-paying job in The Woodlands. He claimed the same time on timesheet after timesheet.”
Levine noted that this led to the five felony tampering charges. The single theft charge resulted from Blackburn requesting paid parental leave in May 2022, which amounted to a nearly $21,000 bonus to which he was not entitled.
Blackburn signed a county policy form that documented he was aware he could not work another job while on leave. However, Levine added that he continued to work his secondary job throughout his time off.
Levine did not provide the name of the oil and gas company Blackburn worked for but did confirm it was not ExxonMobil. In the 15-month overlapping period, he made over $90,000 with the county and more than $250,000 at his job in The Woodlands.
Although Ogg said it was important to examine Blackburn’s actions in a nonpartisan way, she took the opportunity to attack the past election administrator’s office instituted at the direction of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and its former Harris County Commissioner Court-appointed employees.
“The lack of supervision — that was how he was able to commit the crime and not do his job for Harris County,” Ogg added. “So, the elections office didn’t perform as they were required to perform.”
She said Blackburn’s actions impacted the November 2022 election and continue to affect civil court proceedings. One of 20 election contests filed by Republican candidates challenging the results of their races is currently on appeal.
Visiting state district judge David Peeples from Bexar County determined that the ballot paper shortages and other reported election operation problems, such as equipment malfunctions, did not influence the results of the races addressed in other cases.
However, he called for a new 180th District Court judicial race. Ogg said the election will take place in May 2025.
Ogg confirmed on Tuesday that Blackburn’s criminal charges closed the investigation and that the public should not expect any additional findings to be released.
“It’s ironic. People are looking for complex, conspiratorial reasons for things happening, and often it boils down to incompetence and greed,” Ogg said. “And even though that was affected on a relatively small scale by one person. It affected millions of us, and it did deprive people of votes.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
