County commissioners OK change for Robert E. Lee Road.

Commissioners’ 3-2 vote creates the office to replace tax assessor-county clerk process

Harris County became the latest in Texas to adopt an independent administrator model to run elections when the Democratic majority on Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to create the new department.

Court members voted 3-2 along party lines to create an election administrator’s office, which will assume the voter registration duties of the tax assessor-collector and the election management role of the county clerk.

Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett and former Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman, who are both Democrats, opposed the move.

Bennett in a letter to court members said her office successfully was registering voters, and she expressed doubt an independent administrator would be an improvement.

“Checks and balances will be lost with elections and voter registration managed by one office only,” Bennett wrote. “In counties with election administrators, the lack of accountability between voter registrars and election clerks has caused the type of problem that erodes public trust.”

Trautman, who was elected in 2018 but resigned in May because of health issues, said such a move should come only after a robust community engagement process next year.

The court plans to hire an elections administrator as soon as next month, though the office would not begin official operations until Nov. 18.

County Clerk Chris Hollins, who supports the adoption of the elections administrator model, will remain in charge of the Nov. 3 general election.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said splitting election duties between two county departments is inefficient. He said the system was rooted in racism, noting that Texas tax assessors were assigned voter registration duties in the early 20th century because they also collected a poll tax — a tool used to prevent African-Americans from casting ballots.

“In a lot of ways, what we have is a vestige, a relic, of that old Jim

Crow era,” Ellis said.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo echoed that point, arguing that if the county was designing an elections system from scratch, “we wouldn’t design this one.”

Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, a Republican, said he opposed the idea because splitting the election duties between two officials allows each to be a check against the other. An appointed elections administrator, he said, is unaccountable to voters.

“Though the county clerk and tax assessor-collector do not share my party affiliation, I believe in the principle that the people stand before the population,” Cagle said.

Most of the other largest counties in the state, including Bexar, Dallas, Tarrant and El Paso already have switched to elections administrators. Travis County has not.

Antonio Maldonado, a Harris County Democratic Party precinct chair, one of many public speakers at Tuesday’s meeting, agreed with Cagle that residents should be able to choose who runs their elections.

“I don’t think you’d want the governor to appoint you to your positions,” he said to the court. “You earned your position by the votes of the people.”

Tomaro Bell, president of the MacGregor Park Super Neighborhood

Association, said an elections administrator would work to ensure his or her continued employment instead of being loyal to the public.

Sunnyside resident Cynthia Pharms said the switch unfairly takes power from Bennett. She also criticized the court for discussing the item on the same day as the primary runoff election, depriving election judges of the ability to participate.

“I truly believe this is underhanded for you all to move and not have the voters’ and precinct judges’ input,” Pharms said.

Supporters of an election administration office included Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilbert Hinojosa and J. Gerland Hebert,

a former Department of Justice official and voting rights expert.

“Having two elected officials run elections in one county, where one is in charge of voter registration and one is in charge of running elections, is far from ideal,” Hebert said in a statement. “Elected officials often make decisions based on partisanship, and especially when the two officials represent different political parties.”

Ellis noted that in recent years, Harris County has fumbled its election duties, which he blamed on officeholders having too many responsibilities.

The Harris County clerk’s office regularly has struggled to post election results in a timely fashion, and this year’s March primary was marred by long lines and misallocated voting machines.

Two years ago, the tax assessorcollector’s office mistakenly placed more than 1,700 voters in suspension and later failed to properly update a voting district’s boundaries.

In its vote Tuesday, the court ordered a study of the budget, facilities, equipment and personnel needed for the elections administrator office, and to seek input from the public.

The court will need to vote to approve that final report, which is due within 30 days, before hiring an administrator.