HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and the Texas Rangers will announce on Tuesday criminal corruption charges related to the Nov. 2022 election, Ogg’s office said.
The announcement is expected at 1:30 p.m. You can watch it live on ABC13’s 24/7 channel.
While the district attorney’s office has yet to say who it involves, it shared that the election official will be charged with theft and tampering with government documents.
According to our partners at the Houston Chronicle, this is the result of a Texas Rangers investigation into the Nov. 2022 Harris County Election prompted by state leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott.
The 2022 election came under scrutiny for its handling and being fraught with issues.
Some of the problems occurred during early voting.
The Harris County Elections Administration released a 54-page report a month after the midterm elections, outlining what happened during early voting, Election Day and after Election Day.
The report stated problems ranged from error messages on machines and paper jams causing issues with ballots to blaming the United States Postal Service for mail-in ballot problems.
A lack of supplies was also said to be an issue, with 68 Election Day voting locations running out of paper. Sixty-one received additional deliveries.
In 2023, lawsuits were filed challenging the election results.
An audit from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office also found “multiple failures” could have prevented some voters from casting a ballot, but it stopped short of saying any race’s outcome was affected.
Following the election, state legislators passed a bill to get rid of the appointed county elections administrator. The county clerk is now in charge.
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