Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has expressed concern about voter fraud, particularly in Houston, after a judge declared more than 1,400 votes in a 2022 district court race to be invalid, leading to the discarding of the election results. The governor posted on Twitter, stating that “Voter fraud is real. Especially in Houston,” referring to the ruling by Judge David Peeples, who found that 1,430 illegal votes were cast in the race for the 180th District Court.
Following Republican candidate Tami Pierce’s legal challenge against the results after her narrow loss to Judge DaSean Jones (D), who won by only 449 votes, Judge Peeples ordered Harris County to hold a new election for the 180th District Court judge in May. The investigation into the issue revealed that 983 votes were invalid because they were from people who lived outside Harris County or had other residency-related issues, while an additional 445 were invalid due to voters not presenting valid identification. Additionally, there were 48 mail-in ballots that lacked required signatures or were delivered after the deadline.
The exact distribution of these invalid votes remains unclear. Governor Abbott concluded his post by calling for an end to voter fraud and shared a report on the subject from the Houston Chronicle. Paul Simpson, Pierce’s lawyer, celebrated the judge’s ruling as a win for election integrity. He stated in a news release obtained by the Tribune: “We are gratified by the court’s judgment that Tami Pierce deserves a new election.” The Houston Chronicle also reported that the Harris County Republican Party Chair Cindy Siegel boasted of the victory, claiming that the previous election administrations’ handling of the elections was negligent, causing voters to lose confidence in the electoral process.
However, Oliver Brown, Jones’ lawyer, said they will work to appeal the ruling, arguing that “it will be overturned because Pierce did not meet the legal standard” in a statement obtained by the Tribune.