HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Officially sworn into office on August 24, Harris County’s newest Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum is two weeks on the job with only two months until elections.
“I see the team is doing the things that need to be done to prepare for this election," Tatum said.
Tatum says he feels good about where they’re at. In fact, they’re ahead of schedule.
“We have 99 early vote center locations confirmed and ready to go and we have 782 locations identified for Election Day," Tatum said.
Harris County is coming off a recent shake up in leadership after former Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria resigned, following issues and complaints with the primary elections.
“I think there are some takeaways and I think the good news is we’ve implemented some of those takeaways into the elections process," Tatum said.
Heading into November, Harris County will again have a long ballot, the longest in the state, and likely a higher turnout. Tatum hopes some new changes will help.
“There will be a new device that’s on the scanners that will assist the voter in inserting their ballot into the scanner so we shouldn’t see the paper jams.”
Tatum says they’ve enhanced the training for election workers, adding more hands-on training with the voting machines. And if an election worker doesn’t show up, they’ll have backup.
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“If, for whatever reason, an election judge and staff can not show up at a polling place, we have reserves to send out to those locations," Tatum said.
He says they’re doing everything they can to ensure the November election is efficient and accurate.
“What you hope to do is you identify the process, you plan for the process and you execute that plan. You then have to hold people accountable to make sure that they followed the plan," Tatum said.