{"id":2005154,"date":"2023-08-18T16:37:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T20:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/over-20-gop-candidates-sue-largest-texas-county-alleging-election-day-malfeasance\/"},"modified":"2023-08-18T16:42:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T20:42:05","slug":"over-20-gop-candidates-sue-largest-texas-county-alleging-election-day-malfeasance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/over-20-gop-candidates-sue-largest-texas-county-alleging-election-day-malfeasance\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 20 GOP candidates sue Texas county for alleged election day misconduct."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fover-20-gop-candidates-sue-largest-texas-county-alleging-election-day-malfeasance%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2005154&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Harris County, Texas Faces\u200d Election\u2064 Challenge Lawsuits<\/h2>\n<p>Harris County, Texas, the most populous in the Lone Star State, has become the center of\u2063 election \u2064challenge \u200blawsuits after a myriad of problems occurred on Election Day in November.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thetexan.news\/elections\/2022\/gop-candidate-mealer-for-harris-county-judge-files-new-complaint-in-2022-election-contest\/article_11db5c10-f261-5fb5-bb9e-603821975a89.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texan<\/a> reported last week that the first of\u2064 21 election trials\u200d wrapped up in Houston.\u2064 All of \u200dthe cases were brought by Republican candidates, according to\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houstonpublicmedia.org\/articles\/court\/2023\/08\/01\/458305\/harris-county-republican-lawsuit-challenge-november-2022-election-underway\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Houston Public Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The first trial featured Republican\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/tx\/south-texas-el-paso\/news\/2023\/08\/01\/as-electoral-disputes-mount--one-texas-court-case-takes-center-stage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Erin \u2064Lunceford<\/a> challenging Democrat Tamika Craft\u2019s 2,743-vote\u200c win out of \u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/11\/08\/us\/elections\/results-texas-county-judge-harris-county.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1 million<\/a> ballots\u200c cast in a district judge contest. \u2064A decision\u2062 in the case \u200cis not expected for a least a month.<\/p>\n<p>On the day Lunceford\u2019s trial \u200dended, Republican county judge candidate Alexandra Mealer\u200b filed an amended complaint, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marjorie-taylor-greene-introduces-articles-of-impeachment-against-fbi-director-chris-wray\/\" title=\"Marjorie Taylor Greene Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against FBI Director Chris Wray\">alleging widespread violations<\/a> of\u2062 Texas election\u200d law and possible illegal votes in excess of incumbent Democratic Judge Lina Hidalgo\u2019s\u200b margin of victory of approximately 18,000 votes, or 1.67\u2062 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Mealer told The Western Journal there are parallels between what happened in Harris County (the Houston metro area, population 4.7 million) in November and what\u2062 occurred in Maricopa County (the Phoenix metro area, 4.5\u2064 million).<\/p>\n<p>In Maricopa County, it was printers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/maricopa-county-blames-printers-election-chaos-manufacturer-saying-not-fast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">malfunctioning<\/a> at up to 59 percent of polling locations, causing tabulators not to be able to read ballots. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandyDeSoto\/status\/1592211713239109632?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Long\u2063 lines<\/a> formed and because\u2062 Republicans vote 3\u2064 to 1 over \u200bDemocrats \u2062on Election Day, GOP candidates like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/red-alert-kari-lake-drops-massive-new-lawsuit-court-pulls-dirty-trick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kari Lake<\/a> were most impacted by \u200cthe chaos.<\/p>\n<p>Lake further <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/lake-campaign-produces-map-illustrating-voting-machines-malfunctioned-primarily-gop-areas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alleged<\/a> that \u200bthe areas where most of \u200dthe problems occurred happened\u200d to be Republican strongholds.<\/p>\n<p>Mealer said\u200b the same was true in Harris County. Multiple polling stations there ran out of\u200b ballot paper, while \u2064several other\u200d polling sites did not open on time or experienced other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-county-reports-voting-machine-issues-affecting-republican-ballots-dominion-releases-statement\/\" title=\"PA County Reports Voting Machine Issues Affecting Republican Ballots; Dominion Releases Statement\u00a0\">voting machine issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt this point, it\u2019s almost a year later, and\u200d we still can\u2019t answer how many locations ran out of paper for how long. \u2064How many machines were down for how long? West Gray \u2014 [the] largest voting center in Texas, so not insignificant \u2014 the first few hours had incredibly long lines no one had ever seen,\u201d she \u2062recounted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t one thing that went\u200c wrong.\u200b It was just the culmination\u200d of so \u200cmany things that made it really hard for a lot of \u200dpeople to vote,\u201d Mealer \u200cexplained.<\/p>\n<h3>Should there \u200dbe a new election in Mealer&#8217;s \u2064race?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Yes<\/li>\n<li>No<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cIt disproportionately impacted Republican areas and even if\u200d they weren\u2019t Republican\u2064 areas, Republicans disproportionately vote on Election Day compared to Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mealer\u2019s campaign \u2064was\u2064 surprised\u200b by Election Day vote totals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were all \u200dpretty shocked seeing all the results come in \u2064that \u2063I did worse [on] Election Day than I did early voting. That just doesn\u2019t happen right\u200c now with the\u2062 way Republicans vote,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Mealer\u2019s attorneys assert that the official ballot \u200breconciliation\u200c report contains a discrepancy of almost 10,000 mail-in ballots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpecifically, the mail in ballot \u200dreconciliation signed by the Presiding Judge \u200bof the Central Counting Station reflects that only 54,952 mail in \u200cballots should have been submitted to the Signature Verification Committee \u2063and the Early Voting\u2063 Ballot Board.\u200d However, 64,259 were actually submitted,\u201d Mealer\u2019s complaint states.<\/p>\n<p>Further, she alleges \u200dHarris County Elections Administrator Clifford Tatum failed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fla-to-withhold-funding-if-local-school-boards-maintain-unlawful-mask-orders\/\" title=\"Fla. to withhold funding if local school boards maintain unlawful mask orders\">follow state law<\/a> in relation to the amount of ballot paper on\u2064 hand \u200cat each polling location.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas election code \u201crequired the EA \u200bto provide each polling location with twenty-five \u200dpercent more ballots than were\u2064 cast at the corresponding location in the \u2063previous election,\u201d\u2063 the complaint says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe EA\u2019s records show that \u2064the office\u2064 arbitrarily allocated 300 ballots (or 600 pages of ballot paper) to most polling locations rather than determining \u2064the amount of ballot paper \u2062based \u200don historical voter turnout as required.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to The Texan, the county \u2064stood by the \u200dnumber \u200bof ballots it \u200bhad on\u2064 hand and said\u200c state law did not apply.<\/p>\n<p>Mealer\u2019s suit also alleges that Tatum\u2019s office violated Texas law by\u200c not keeping a \u200drecord of the ballots \u2063distributed to each\u200d polling center by serial number.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe purpose of this statute is to ensure that the EA can \u200creconcile the number of unused ballots returned against the number of ballots cast and spoiled ballots. This\u200b is \u2064a critical safeguard against double-voting and other forms of election fraud,\u201d \u200cthe complaint says.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bsuit also \u2064claims Tatum failed to adequately test and\u200c maintain voting \u2063equipment, saying, \u201cThe widespread \u2062lack of functioning equipment suppressed voting, even though it is difficult to\u2063 determine\u2062 the precise impact at any individual location.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally,\u200c Mealer alleges that\u200b the EA illegally kept polling places open after 7 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, the EA knew \u200bthat not all Harris County polling \u200blocations had paper \u2062to\u200c stay open. In other words, the EA consented to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/over-20-gop-candidates-sue-largest-texas-county-alleging-election-day-malfeasance\/\" title=\"Over 20 GOP candidates sue Texas county for alleged election day misconduct.\">emergency order extending voting hours<\/a> despite\u2063 knowing that not all countywide polling locations would, or even could, stay open for the extra hour as required,\u201d the complaint \u2064says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe EA\u2019s failure to notify the court\u200c that certain polling places were already closed\u2062 and had run\u2064 out of ballots is a serious statutory violation that suppressed voting at a critical time in the\u200c election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mealer\u2019s attorneys noted in her suit\u2063 that Senate Bill\u200c 1, which passed in 2021, calls for strict adherence to the language of Texas election law.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic state legislators made national headlines when they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/chuck-schumer-calls-democrats-fled-texas-courageous-announces-meeting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fled Austin<\/a> to Washington, \u200bD.C., in July 2021 to deny Republicans a quorum to pass the bill. Ultimately, \u2062they \u200bhad to return and the\u2064 legislation passed.<\/p>\n<p>Mealer\u2019s complaint states, \u201cFollowing S.B.1, election officials and the Courts are\u200b required to strictly construe the Election Code \u2018to \u2064reduce the likelihood of fraud in the conduct of elections, protect the secrecy of the ballot, promote voter access, and ensure that \u200ball <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-both-republicans-and-democrats-are-wrong-about-bill-barr\/\" title=\"Why Both Republicans And Democrats Are Wrong About Bill Barr\">legally cast ballots<\/a> are counted.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Mealer seeks a new election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn\u200b the race for Harris County Judge, the illegal conduct of the \u200bEA calls into question \u200dthe election\u2019s fairness and whether the election met even\u2062 the minimum standards for validity under the Texas Election \u200cCode,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor this reason, the real result of the election is unknowable, the election\u200b should be voided and a new election \u2062ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Western Journal reached out to the Harris County elections \u200ddepartment\u200c but had not received a response at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p>The post \u2062 <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/20-gop-candidates-sue-largest-texas-county-alleging-election-day-malfeasance\/\">Over 20 GOP Candidates Sue Largest \u2062Texas County Alleging Election Day Malfeasance<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harris County, Texas, the largest in Texas, faces a surge of election lawsuits following numerous issues on November&#8217;s Election Day. The Texan recently stated that Houston concluded the initial trial out of 21, all filed by Republican candidates. The county has emerged as a focal point for election challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":2005155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2005154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2005154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2005155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2005154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2005154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2005154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}