Texas Rangers Brought In for Criminal Investigation Into Voting Machine Mayhem on Election Day in Harris County
"Harris County DA Kim Ogg said prosecutors conducted a similar investigation following the 2020 election and it led to charges against three Democrats and two Republicans."
The State of Texas is calling in the Rangers to help investigate the Election Day nightmare in the Houston area that resulted in the re-election of a corrupt left-wing county executive named Lina Hidalgo.
Chaos had erupted on Election Day in Harris County, Texas: Voting machines malfunctioned in several precincts, there were ballot supply issues, and a series of court interventions that left voters bewildered and yet another Democrat eking out an extremely tight victory.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg is now charged with investigating the Election Day shenanigans. She announced Wednesday that her office will conduct an investigation into the election debacle that dismayed many voters.
"Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy. When we get credible complaints of election irregularities, we are statutorily required to investigate," Ogg said in a statement. "That’s why we’ve called for the assistance of the Texas Rangers. The results of their investigation will be turned over to a Harris County grand jury."
The Attorney General, Ken Paxton, is statutorily restricted from unilaterally investigating the allegations of election fraud. Thus, Ogg calling in the Texas Rangers is an interesting workaround.
“Ogg sent a letter to Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw asking for the Texas Rangers' assistance on Monday, the same day Gov. Greg Abbott called for an investigation and the Harris County Republican Party filed a lawsuit accusing Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum and the county of numerous violations of the Texas Election Code,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
“The allegations include paper shortages at 23 polling locations, releasing early voting results before polls closed at 8 p.m., the improper disposition of damaged ballots and inadequate instructions on how poll workers were to manage instances in which the two-page ballots were not completely or adequately scanned into machines,” the report added.
After the 2020 election disaster, the GOP-led Texas Legislature instructed all 254 Texas counties to replace less-secure voting systems with trackable and transparent ballot-producing voting systems. Straight party ticket voting was also eliminated.
Harris County implemented brand-new 'Hybrid Hart Verity' voting machines that have traceable paper ballots. It cost taxpayers $54 million to upgrade from the previous Hart InterCivic voting machines, which have caused controversy.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott earlier called for the investigation into the botched Harris County election that has further undermined voters' trust in the system.
"I'm calling on the Secretary of State, the Attorney General's Office, and the Texas Rangers to initiate investigations into allegations of improprieties in the way that the 2022 elections were conducted in Harris County," said Governor Abbott. "The allegations of election improprieties in our state's largest county may result from anything ranging from malfeasance to blatant criminal conduct. Voters in Harris County deserve to know what happened. Integrity in the election process is essential. To achieve that standard, a thorough investigation is warranted."
The Hill reported on the story, which had been undercovered in the national press.
"A number of polling locations in Harris County allegedly failed to open on time on Election Day, which spurred the Texas Civil Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas to file an emergency lawsuit — and the county’s 782 polling places were ordered to stay open an hour past their typical closing time," the Hill reported.
But the Hill conveniently neglected to mention anything about the malfunctioning voting machines.
"Voters at Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, a large polling place in a predominantly Hispanic area, were unable to cast ballots for roughly four hours because voting machines were malfunctioning and other issues," Axios reported, based on NYT's sources.
But reports from witnesses in the Harris County area suggest the problems were even worse than the mainstream media let on.
"Absolute & total incompetence of Houston / Harris County Texas on full display," @Txsvn925 griped. "100+ voting machines available, maybe 5 or 6 actually work, with over 1,000 people in line.."
"If this does not make your blood boil about how Harris County’s elections department conducted our election, I don’t know what will," said Merissa Hansen, who closely watches Harris County politics. In the video below, a veteran is nearly in tears over the election disruption due to the voting machine issues.
Hansen also highlighted machines being down in the West Gray voting location.
Hansen was also censored by Twitter after showing Harris County residents upset about the Election Day mayhem.
After the Election Day disruption, incumbent 'progressive' 'rising star' Lina Hidalgo serendipitously emerged victorious.
"Lina Hidalgo, the progressive Democrat who leads Texas’s largest county, which includes Houston, narrowly won re-election despite a well-funded effort by a Republican first-time candidate who made crime a centerpiece of her campaign, according to The Associated Press. The race was close enough that a result did not come until Thursday," the New York Times reported.
Unfortunately for U.S. voters, Harris County's voting disruption was far from a unique case. On Election Day in Maricopa County, when most Republicans turn out to vote in elections, it was reported that voting machine problems caused delays at an estimated 27 percent of the polls. A judge blocked legal motions to have voting hours extended.
Harris County DA Kim Ogg said that prosecutors conducted a similar investigation following the 2020 election and it led to charges against three Democrats and two Republicans.
"We do this regardless of the party affiliation of the complainants. It is my duty as the elected District Attorney to follow the evidence and follow the law, and I will," DA Ogg said.
I bet if people started being strung up again publicly for their part in these crimes, they’d stop real quick.
The new method of cheating is to dole out improperly printed ballots on election day, so they fail and won't be counted, because more Republicans vote on election day. It makes it appear that the machines are malfuntioning when it's really the paper that's the problem. Correct printing is used on the mail-in ballots that are more favored by the Democrats (and the dead/moved/multi-state voters).