Middleton on Harris County election do-over bill: 'It’s addressing a very specific problem'

The Texas Senate passed a piece of legislation that would require a do-over of a Harris County election in the event there’s not enough ballot paper, according to reports from Houston-based media outlets. 

Senate Bill (SB) 1993 authorizes the Secretary of State (SOS) to have races in Texas’ largest county start all over should ballot paper run out, Houston NBC affiliate KPRC reported.

According to LegiScan, five senators from the Houston area sponsored the bill, which was approved in the upper chamber of the Texas Legislature along party lines, a 19-12 vote. 

The bill has been handed off to the Texas House of Representatives, per the online legislation database. 

Last fall’s purportedly problematic elections in Harris County prompted State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) to author SB 1993.

“It’s addressing a very specific problem,” Middleton said, KPRC reported. “You know we had 253 counties that had no issues really with ballot paper and we had one that did and we just want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” 

Per a report from Houston Daily in November, the Harris County Republican Party expressed scrutiny and ire toward what they asserted was a host of widespread problems at various polling locations throughout the county on Election Day. 

Republicans allege that many people in predominantly red precincts weren’t given a chance to vote, to which their Democratic counterparts pushed back as another form of denying election results, which the Harris County Commissioners Court had certified, the publication reported.

Middleton added that the ballot paper problem was on purpose, Houston FOX affiliate KRIV reported. 

"A plan, that I think had to be deliberate, denied ballot paper and stopped countless people from voting on election day," the senator said in the report.

Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee issued a statement decrying the bill. 

“Voting is one of the most important freedoms we have in this country,” Menefee, a Democrat, said in the statement. “Harris County voters should not have to worry that a state official handpicked by Gov. [Greg] Abbott may set their votes aside, disregard election results and require a redo of an election.” 

Menefee argued that state lawmakers are barred by the state constitution from passing laws aimed at a local government.