Harris County prepares for surge in mail-in voting.
Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday voted to spend up to $12 million for an expected uptick in requests for mail-in ballots in the July primary runoff and November general election from voters concerned about contracting the novel coronavirus at polling places.
The three Democrats on the five-member court voted to give County Clerk Diane Trautman enough to send a mail-in ballot to every registered voter in the county over the objections of the two Republican members, who said the clerk failed to justify the expense.
Trautman said her office is planning for any outcome in a lawsuit filed by Democrats and voting rights advocates seeking to force the Texas secretary of state to allow any resident to request a mail ballot.
“No matter what the courts and the state decide for the July and November elections, we must be prepared for an increase in mail ballots, which we are already seeing,” Trautman said.
Attorney General Ken Paxton earlier this month said fear of the coronavirus is not an acceptable excuse to vote by mail, though a state district judge in Travis County ruled otherwise. The state almost certainly will appeal the case, which may not be resolved for months. A similar Texas case is pending in federal court.
Under Texas election law, mailin ballots are available only to voters 65 and older, who are away from their county of residence on election day or who have a disability.
Trautman said her office “can’t turn on a dime” and must begin preparing to accommodate more mail ballots, which are more expensive to process than votes cast at electronic voting machines because they would require more equipment and staff, as well as the cost of postage.
She outlined the costs of an expanded mail voting program: about $3 million for 700,000 ballots; $8 million for 1.2 million ballots; and $12 million for all 2.4 million ballots. The Democratic majority — County Judge Lina Hidalgo and commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia — opted for the full sum, noting the county
clerk may end up spending only a portion of the funds.
“We want to make sure, with the possibility of a record turnout, we’re giving … the support they need,” Ellis said. “I want us to do what we can to improve the percentage of people who vote in this county, because it’s embarrassing.”
Hidalgo urged Trautman to keep the court and the county health department apprised of her plans to ensure upcoming balloting is safe for voters.
The two Republican court members said they were concerned Trautman’s proposal was not more detailed and were irked the clerk at one point said the county should provide the money now while pledging a more thorough plan later.
“I’m not going to vote for something to find out what it is,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle said.
Cagle noted that primary runoff elections often draw less than 100,000 voters and high-turnout November general elections can draw more than 1.2 million. He and Precinct 3’s Steve Radack questioned why the county would ask for enough money for 2.4 million ballots — enough for the entire voter roll — and more than 1 million more votes than have been cast in any Harris County election.
About 117,000 Harris County voters used mail ballots in 2018, about 9 percent of the total cast.
Elections Administrator Michael Winn said the county must gird for the possibility, however remote, that a coronavirus resurgence in the fall severely limits inperson voting.
“We have to prepare for the chance that we have millions of voters who may want a ballot by mail in November,” Winn said.
The Texas Election Code does not address how a pandemic may affect voting. The Secretary of State’s Office , however, on April 3 informed county clerks that voters could claim a disability, an acceptable reason to request a mail ballot, if they feared voting in person during the pandemic could endanger their health.
Trautman on April 13 said her office would not challenge any voter’s request for a mail ballot, effectively opening the accommodation to anyone.
Her office has consulted with the county Republican and Democratic parties, Brennan Center for Justice, U.S. Elections Assistance Commissions and community groups about expanding mail-in voting, Trautman said.
Harris County Democratic Party Chairwoman Lillie Schecter said Texas should expand mail voting to avoid a situation like that in Wisconsin, which held an election April 7 despite a statewide stay-at-home order intended to limit the spread of the virus. Milwaukee health officials later traced seven cases in that city to in-person voting.
“No one should have to choose between their health and democracy,” Schecter said. “To avoid the same fate here, Texas Democrats preemptively sued Greg Abbott. While we are thrilled with the Travis County judge’s ruling, we are waiting to see what the appeal looks like.”
Alan Vera, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party’s ballot security committee, warned that expanding mail voting would be a “logistical nightmare” that would render the county clerk unable to count all votes on election night.
Vera said Harris County should instead adopt an in-person voting system similar to South Korea, which held a national election in mid-April. Election workers in that nation sanitized polling stations and took the temperature of each voter. Residents with confirmed coronavirus cases still could vote by mail.
Trautman said her office already has ordered sanitation supplies for poll workers, including masks, gloves and face shields.
Budget Officer Bill Jackson said some of the added expenses may be reimbursable through $426 million Harris County received from the federal government to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.