Photo: Tetra images RF
Election integrity has become a major issue nationally, and it’s once again hitting home here in Harris County after multiple residents received voter registration certificate cards from the Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector’s office.
KTRH’s own Jimmy Barrett received a voter registration certification for the previous owner of his home, who hasn’t lived in Texas—let alone the Houston/Harris County area—for nearly 10 years. State Senator Paul Bettencourt, who represents portions of Harris County, also confirmed to KTRH that at least one other resident experienced the same thing.
Bettencourt also confirmed that this means the previous owner of Barrett’s home is eligible to vote under his address. “A card has shown up, that means that some voter file has been reinstated that didn’t get updated until now,” he explained.
He went on to say that this is a prime example of exactly how bad the Harris County voter rolls and election processes have been over the last several years. “The prior tax assessor had not gone into the office for several years,” Bettencourt said. “It’s been a long time since there’s been some management.”
Bettencourt advised any residents who receive a voter registration card for the former residents of their homes to report it to the county tax assessor-collector’s office—which is now required, thanks to new election integrity laws he authored, to address the issue.