Houston prosecutors find no evidence of efforts to sway 2022 election, but charge county worker – ABC 6 News

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An investigation found no evidence of intent to influence the results of the 2022 election in Texas’ largest county, prosecutors said Tuesday, but they will pursue criminal charges against a county employee who allegedly worked to a second job while surveys were being completed. of paper ballots.

The review by Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg is one of several looking at the last Houston midterm election, when problems at the polls caused Republican candidates to contest defeats in local races and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to sign a law by which the electoral administrator retires from the county with more than 5 million inhabitants.

Ogg, an elected Democrat, said during a news conference that her office and Texas Rangers investigators found no evidence that election workers intentionally tried to influence the results. But she said the investigation found that failures by an election employee – whose job it was to make sure polling places had enough paper ballots – resulted in some voters being unable to vote.

That employee, Darryl Blackburn, has not been charged with any election-related crime. Instead, he faces charges related to improperly claiming hours on time sheets and filing paid time off while secretly working a more lucrative outside job, including on Election Day, as some polling stations remained without ballots.

The most serious of the six charges against Blackburn, theft by public servant, carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announces corruption charges related to the 2022 election with Chief Deputy Public Corruption Prosecutor Michael Levine during a news conference Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in Houston. Prosecutors say an investigation found no evidence of intent to influence the results of the 2022 election, but Ogg said her office will pursue criminal charges against a county employee who allegedly worked a second job at the time which polls were left without ballots. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Raquel Natalicchio

Blackburn’s lawyer said his client was not guilty and called the charges politically motivated.

“This case is not about elections, it’s about time sheets,” Houston attorney Charles Flood said in a statement. “The Texas Rangers have made it clear that the evidence shows no intent or attempt to influence the 2022 election, so it appears that Ms. Ogg’s only motivation is to try to claim my client as some sort of consolation prize.”

Ogg said the employee’s actions undermined the trust of voters.

“It’s clearly extremely important that we look at these crimes in a nonpartisan way,” Ogg said.

Last year, an audit by the Texas secretary of state also found that race results were not affected by the problems in Houston. But the report blamed county administrators for failures, including insufficient training of election staff.

After the 2022 election, Republican lawmakers effectively abolished the Harris County elections office and reassigned the jobs of county tax assessor and county clerk, both elected positions currently held by Democrats.

Harris County has been at the center of voting rights and access battles in Texas in recent years. Democrats, who extended their victories in the county, attacked the new restrictions and state control of elections in Houston as politically motivated.

A Texas judge last year denied efforts by losing Republican candidates to overturn election results after the 2022 midterms. But he later ordered a new election in a race that was among the closest. This case remains pending on appeal.

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Lathan is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.

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