A motion to fire the Harris County elections administrator before her resignation takes effect July 1 failed in a split vote at Harris County Commissioners Court on March 22.

Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria will preside over the upcoming May elections as planned after a request backed by Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle, both Republicans, failed 2-3 with the court’s Democrats dissenting.

As previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper, Longoria announced her resignation March 8 after several issues with the March 1 primary elections, including a delay in the vote counts as well as 10,000 ballots being located after the final counts were already given.

“We need to treat this like a problem, and it's urgent,” Ramsey said March 22. “We're not doing that. We're acting as if everything is just fine, and it's not. I'm very concerned about the May 7 elections.”

The failed motion also requested the secretary of state keep an eye on the upcoming county elections and that Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth assist in overseeing the elections.



As previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper, Longoria was sworn into her position in mid-November 2020 after serving as a special adviser on voting rights to former County Clerk Chris Hollins. The office’s responsibilities include setting polling locations, counting ballots and registering voters—duties previously split between the county clerk and tax-assessor collector.

“Long before we had an [elections administrator] that was appointed, I opposed the creation of this office,” Cagle said March 22. “I said this is an office that needed to not ever exist. ... I think that [the county clerk and tax-assessor] can do the job, should do the job and that this job should be given to them immediately.”

Before voting against the motion to terminate Longoria, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said he is proud to have advocated for the creation of the elections administrator position.

“You had a host of things happening at the same time,” Ellis said, speaking to Longoria. “[A] voter suppression bill that certainly had a big impact on what happened. More than 1,600 ballots in Harris County were not read properly by the new voting machines. ... In Harris County, 6,919 [ballots] were rejected, all but 31 because of the new ID requirements from Senate Bill 1. That means more than 99% of the rejections were because of the state legislation. It has been well documented that most of them were people of color.”


Before commissioners discussed the motion March 22, residents spoke during public comment regarding the March primary elections and the upcoming local elections and primary runoff elections in May. Among the speakers was Tana Pradia, a representative for activist organization Positive Women’s Network–Greater Houston Chapter.

“There were many challenges in the administration of the primary election,” Pradia said. “While there are some that may choose to use the moment to take political hits, we think it's important to re-center this conversation on where it matters the most, the voters of Harris County, and come up with solutions for moving forward.”

Harris County resident Danny Jee also shared his perspective on what action commissioners should take.

“Please try to accept the resignation of Ms. Longoria earlier than the July date,” Jee said. “There's no reason to let her continue on with any of the elections as she has proved she's been negligent.”


Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia urged “some expediency” in starting the process of replacing Longoria as elections administrator, saying interviews for the position need to begin before the May elections. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo reiterated the upcoming elections need to be a priority.

“No. 1, we need to make sure that this election coming up goes well, and so making sure that they have the resources they need, etc., etc., then we need to figure out what could be done better,” Hidalgo said. “And then we ... also need to find a replacement [for Longoria].”

On March 8, the Commissioners Court directed county leaders to find a third-party firm to review the operations of the March primary elections and provide feedback. Harris County Administrator David Berry said March 22 that his office is working with the county attorney’s office to find a firm for the task, and he hopes to have a recommendation by the next commissioners meeting.

“We obviously want someone with real elections expertise, you know, not just a generic consulting firm,” Berry said. “And I think a big part of that, too, will be surveying and talking to precinct judges, election workers, folks who actually participated in the election.”


Danica Lloyd contributed to this report.