HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Harris County officials announced Friday that they've made some changes to the election process, including ensuring there are enough paper ballots at polling places.
That was one of several problems the Texas Secretary of State mentioned in an audit released Thursday about the November 2022 election.
“We’re equipped and we’re ready,” Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said during a news conference inside NRG Arena.
That's where dozens of staffers were busy setting up voting machines and processing mail-in ballots to prepare for early voting on Monday.
Hudspeth, who was first elected County Clerk in 2020, has overseen running the county’s elections since September 1. That’s when a new state law took effect that abolished the appointed elections administrator position in Harris County alone and transferred election duties back to the County Clerk and voter registration duties back to the elected Tax Assessor-Collector. This system was in place prior to November 2020.
“It’s a small time frame, but again, it’s not my first rodeo,” said Hudspeth, of her seven weeks in the new role.
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Hudspeth has 15 years of prior elections experience in the County Clerk’s office.
She did not run elections in 2022 but says she’s taken several steps to avoid the missteps of that year.
“One of those things, obviously, was about paper, right?” said Hudspeth, referring to widely publicized ballot shortages. “That will not be the talking point for this November election because we have overprepared for paper for the turnout of this election cycle.”
Also new in 2023 -- election techs will be at every voting site so they can quickly fix issues as they come up, plus more staff on standby at the county’s election headquarters.
“There are times when we have emergencies, or election judges may not show up, but we’ve put emergency staff in place,” said Hudspeth. “As a matter of fact, it’ll be over 142 emergency staff here at NRG (Arena) ready to be assigned somewhere in case there is no show-up.”
A big change on Election Night -- six rally sites for election workers to bring votes for tabulation, instead of just one at NRG Arena, like in 2022.
“Think about that, 701 voting locations coming to one site can be overwhelming for a site that already has quite a bit going on,” said Hudspeth.
NRG Arena will be one of 68 early voting centers in Harris County. Registered voters can cast their ballot at any of them.
Early voting starts Monday at 7 a.m.