Ogg also said the investigation found no evidence of intent to sway the outcome of the election by either the Democratic or Republican parties.
"Whether people will feel good about going to vote by holding Blackburn criminally responsible, we can at least attribute criminal responsibility to this individual, a public servant who did not serve," Ogg said.
Sorting out details
The investigation alleged Blackburn acquired a high-paying job in October 2021 with a Woodlands-based oil and gas company while also working as a data analyst for the now-defunct Harris County Elections Administration office. Blackburn worked both full-time jobs simultaneously for 15 months, which investigators alleged led to widespread disruptions on Election Day. The six charges against the 35-year-old former county employee include:
- Five charges of tampering with government documents
- One charge of theft by a public servant
"We have put all the resources that we have into it, as have the Rangers. We followed every complaint. The affidavits were thoroughly investigated by the Rangers. People are looking for complex, conspiratorial reasons for things happening and often it boils down to incompetence and grief. Even though that was affected on a relatively small scale by one person, it affected millions of them, and it did deprive people of votes," Ogg said.
Also of note
A new election date was also announced for May 2025 for the 180th Criminal District Court. Republican candidate Tami C. Pierce was one of the 21 candidates who contested the November 2022 election results. Pierce's voting results were the smallest margin of defeat by number of votes during that voting cycle, with 449 votes separating Pierce and Democratic candidate DaSean Jones. In May, a judge ordered a new election be held for the seat.
Zooming Out
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Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson's October 2023 report on the Harris County elections audit found multiple issues and a need for better training.
“Harris County clearly had multiple failures conducting the election and violated election law for estimating needed ballot paper. Mistakes like these led to a poorly executed election which left many Harris County residents frustrated and may have prevented them from voting," Nelson said in a news release.
One of Blackburn's responsibilities in his former role at the elections department was to allocate ballot paper, Ogg said. The insufficient distribution of ballot paper to polling locations and the loss of an effective monitoring system resulted in ballot paper shortages at multiple polling locations across Harris County, Ogg said, to a point where 98% of polling places received the same number of ballot paper, instead of a specialized, custom number that would accommodate specific polling locations.
"We all remember long lines, some disruption in voting because of the machines, but primarily the complaints were lack of paper ballots that voting locations ran out of paper. Some have said this was directed at one party. Our investigation has not found that to be so," Ogg said.
Sorting out details
Election responsibilities shifted in Harris County when the Texas House passed Senate Bill 1750 last May, which effectively eliminated Harris County’s election administrator system—a nonpartisan position appointed by local elected officials. With the passing of SB 1750, election responsibilities were shifted to the Harris County tax assessor-collector and the Harris County clerk's offices.
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said in a news release her office, and all stakeholders, are committed to fair and accessible elections.
"The activities that occurred during the November 2022 elections in the now-defunct Elections Administrator’s Office do not reflect the integrity or operations of the Harris County Clerk’s Office. Since Sept. 1, 2023, when the legislature returned the conduct of elections to the Harris County Clerk’s Office, we have conducted six successful, legal and transparent elections in nine months," Hudspeth said.
What else
Harris County Republican Party Chairperson Cindy Siegel said in a statement she is not surprised by what was uncovered in the investigation.
"Republican voters were disenfranchised and their belief in a fair and secure election process was destroyed by the corruption that was pervasive in the Harris County Election Administrator’s Office," Siegel said.
Community Impact has reached out to the office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo for a comment, and this story will be updated with new information as it becomes available.
