Given the widespread reports of delays and issues with voting at Harris County polling places from Houston Chronicle and other local press, Texas Organizing Project (TOP) Co-Executive Director Brianna Brown released the following statement:
“Texas Organizing Project is disappointed but sadly not at all surprised by the avoidable voting issues we witnessed this primary election throughout polling locations in Harris County. It is unacceptable in 2022 – while still going through a global pandemic – that Harris County Republican Party refuses to agree to hold joint primaries with Democrats. When Diane Trautman was Harris County Clerk, she had asked both political parties to agree to joint primaries. The Harris County Democratic Party has, and the local Republican party has not.
“The ripple effects of the Harris County Republican Party refusing to hold joint primaries is what voters witnessed last night at the polls: understaffed polling locations, underutilized voting machines, and an overall slowing of the Democratic process. Republicans are more interested in investigating false election fraud claims than doing their jobs as elected leaders by protecting voting rights or even providing the basic infrastructure needed for elections to go smoothly.
“At TOP, we have worked over the last decade to organize Black and Latino communities across our state. One theme has remained consistent – Texas is not so much a ‘red state’ as a suppressed state where certain communities – especially communities of color have been disenfranchised. The voting hoops have been set so high it’s nearly impossible for working people of color to exercise their fundamental right as Americans to cast a ballot.”
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Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris, Bexar, and Fort Bend counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. For more information, visit organizetexas.org.
This statement was sent out March 2, 2022.