Texas judge orders new election after GOP lawsuit challenges 2022 election results in Houston area

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge has ruled in favor of a Republican candidate challenging the results of a 2022 judicial race, ordering that a new election be held in the nation's third-most populous county, a Democratic stronghold that has been hit by GOP efforts is haunted to dictate how ballots are cast.

A losing GOP candidate in a November 2022 judicial race had filed a lawsuit demanding a new election in her campaign in Harris County, where Houston is located. Republican Tami Pierce lost her race for criminal judge by 449 votes to Democratic incumbent DaSean Jones.

Pierce blamed her defeat on allegations that illegal votes were cast by people who did not live in the county and that some ballots were missing required signatures and other information. In court documents, Jones' attorney, Oliver Brown, argued that Pierce could not prove that there were enough illegal or fraudulent votes cast in the judicial race that would “significantly impact this election.”

But in a 32-page ruling issued Wednesday, visiting judge David Peeples ruled in Pierce's favor, saying 1,430 illegal votes were cast in the race.

Peeple wrote that 983 of the illegal votes were cast by people living outside of Harris County and 445 were cast by voters who did not provide a photo ID or substitute ID.

“The true outcome of the competition for judge of the 180th District Court cannot be determined, and therefore a new election is ordered,” Peeples wrote.

Peeples' verdict, first reported by the Houston Chronicle, came after a two-day trial in April.

A date for the new election was not immediately set, as Peeples wrote that he would first have to discuss it with the lawyers in the case.

Brown did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. He told other news outlets that he planned to appeal the ruling.

Paul Simpson, an attorney for Pierce, praised Peeple's ruling, saying “extensive, detailed evidence” revealed many problems in the 2022 election.

“It is our hope that Judge Jones will not further delay justice by filing an appeal, but will instead face the voters of Harris County in a new election if the court orders it,” Simpson said in a statement.

Harris County GOP Chairwoman Cindy Siegel said voters “can now restore some confidence in our election process.”

Peeples' ruling in Pierce's lawsuit came six months after he dismissed most of the 21 lawsuits filed by GOP candidates challenging their losses in the November 2022 election. Pierce's lawsuit was the only unresolved case.

In his ruling last year in connection with a lawsuit in another judicial race, Peeples wrote that he had found “many errors” and violations of election law in Harris County. But there weren't enough votes in doubt in the race between candidates Erin Lunceford and Tamika Craft to justify nullifying that election, he wrote.

Harris County, which President Joe Biden won by double digits in 2020, has become a recurring target of GOP lawmakers who rushed to pass tougher voting measures and passed a law in 2023 that could allow the state to control elections in the county to take over.

The lawsuits in Houston followed similar legal challenges that became more common across the country after former President Donald Trump and his supporters spread baseless conspiracy theories and claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Harris County, which has nearly five million residents, most of whom are Latino or black, has been watching elections for several years. Problems included long lines, a shortage of poll workers and ballots, and ballots that were not counted on election day.

Harris County, like most of the rest of Texas, has previously voted Republican. But experts say the county's changing demographics are trending toward younger residents and minorities, groups that tend to vote Democratic. The state's other large urban areas, such as Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio, also vote Democratic.

In recent years, new elections have been ordered in races in other parts of the country due to various issues.

In November, a judge ordered a new election for the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, after finding that surveillance videos showed people stuffing mail-in ballots into outdoor collection boxes. In December, a judge in Louisiana ordered a new election in a sheriff's contest after finding evidence that a handful of ballots had been cast illegally.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on X: