Judge orders Harris County, Texas to keep some polling locations open an extra hour

A state district judge has ordered Harris County to extend voting hours at nine polling locations that failed to open on time this morning.

The order to keep nine voting locations open an extra hour until 8 p.m. came soon after the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Texas Organizing Project sued the county over delays at those polling places. The groupsalleged that the county was violating the Texas Election Code because polling locations that opened after 7 a.m. would not remain open to voters for 12 hours on Election Day as required by state law.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon, the two groups noted that the nine polling locations across the state's biggest county “not only failed to open at 7 a.m., but remained closed until well after 7 a.m.,” the plaintiffs wrote. Voting was further delayed at some polling locations because of equipment issues, including sign-in and voting machines that weren't working.

The judge ordered Harris County to keep the following locations open until 8 p.m.

• Iglesia Trinidad (Precinct 0597)
• Metcalf Elementary (Precinct 0882)
• Evelyn Thompson Elementary (Precinct 0061)
• Hampton Inn Katy Fwy (Precinct 0055)
• Fiesta Mart, Inc. (Precinct 0541)
• John Marshall Middle School (Precinct 0046)
• HOAPV Community Building (0030)
• Lone Star College Cypress Center (Precinct 305 and 951)
• Houston Community College Alief Center (Precinct 0428)

Early morning voters at those locations faced delays Tuesday morning and, in some cases, were kept from casting ballots before needing to head to work, according to affidavits filed by several Harris County residents.

Among them was Jessica Hill, a local teacher who had to get out of line at 7:45 a.m. because she needed to be at work by 8 a.m. Hill had arrived at Marshall Middle School by 6:30 a.m. and was the first person in line to vote. But poll workers were locked out of the building until 6:47 a.m.

When they started letting voters in to vote, the sign-in machines were not working. She watched poll workers troubleshoot the machines until leaving at 7:45 a.m.

“Harris County has been a major flashpoint, if you will,” Beth Stevens, voting rights legal director for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said earlier in the day.

At least 18 polling locations in Harris County either did not open on time or were only partially open on time, with some locations at first operating with one or two machines when they were supposed to have eight or even 16, Stevens said.

Those sorts of issues are “typical of start-up issues on Election Day,” said Hector de Leon, director of communications and voter outreach for the Harris County Clerk's Office. He said the county has technicians stationed across the county so they can get to voting locations within 10 minutes of a technical distress call and get machines up and running.

“There’s nothing atypical about this morning,” de Leon said. “It’s just the nature of Election Day morning.”

His comments came before the lawsuit was filed. Harris County officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment on the suit.