Update 8:40 p.m. The Texas Supreme Court has issued a stay, dissolving the temporary restraining order from the lower court judge that extended the polls hours to 8 p.m. So according to Harris County Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum, the provisional ballots given voters who joined the lines after 7 p.m. will not be counted. will be set aside until a decision is made on whether they can be included in voter totals for this election.
That may not settle it ultimately since it’s probable there will be additional legal action over the Supreme Court’s decision, particularly in any close races.
Update 9:05 p.m.
“Those provisional ballots will be set aside until I receive further instruction,” Tatum said in an follow-up address in which he tried to clarify what would happen with the provisional votes. “No votes will be thrown out.”
Update: 9:29 p.m.
Hani Mirza, Voting Rights Program Director at the Texas Civil Rights Project, responding to a question about whether the provisional votes would be thrown out, issued this statement:
“That is not what the Texas State Supreme Court’s stay ruling says. It states that the late-voted provisional ballots will be segregated, which is already required by law. The order does not say that the ballots won’t be counted. Those ballots should count and we’re going to fight to make sure they do.”
Original story:
In a statement just released by the Harris County Elections Administrator, a court has ordered that voting hours in Harris County be extended until 8 p.m. today at all 781 polling places in the county following what it said here “a handful of late starts at various polling places.”
Those who were not in line before 7 p.m. and who show up between 7 and 8 o’clock will have to vote on provisional ballots which will be places in a sealed ballot envelope instead of inserting them into the scanning machine.
As a consequence, early voting results will be posted after polls close at 8 p.m.
The Texas Civil Rights Project filed an emergency lawsuit against Harris County citing 12 locations where the county had technical malfunctions or failed to open the polls on time and in one case, was more than three hours late. Harris County Harris County District Court Judge Dawn Rodgers granted the temporary restraining order keeping the polls open the extra hour.
Here is the statement:
“An order has been issued to extend voting hours until 8 p.m. across Harris County’s 781 polling locations. Anyone in line after 7 p.m. will need to vote on a provisional ballot. Voters will cast their ballot as normal, but place their paper voter record in a sealed provision ballot envelope instead of inserting into the scanning machine. All provisional ballots will be tabulated separately inside our Central Count station located at NRG Arena. Today included a handful of late starts at various polling locations, most significantly at the BakerRipley location on Navigation. The additional hour provides voters with the opportunity to cast their ballot if they were unable to do so as intended this morning. We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding these late starts and will provide more information as soon as we’re able. The Early Voting results will be posted after polls close at 8 p.m.”
The lawsuit that was filed:
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
