'These votes will be added': Nearly 10,000 Harris County ballots left off election night count

A few days after it finished tallying its votes in the 2022 primaries, the Harris County Elections Administrator's office revealed that nearly 10,000 ballots were left off the election night total.

Harris County had missed the state's 24-hour window for vote counts, purportedly completing the task after midnight on March 3. 

Isabel Longoria's office then divulged that an oversight occurred during the early morning hours of March 5, both Houston ABC affiliate KTRK and CBS affiliate KHOU reported.

The office said in a statement that 6,000 Democratic ballots and 4,000 Republican ballots were unaccounted for.

According to Longoria's office, the political parties that form the Central County Committee discovered the oversight as they were reviewing the ballots.

"The oversight occurred between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m. as the political parties that make up the Central Count Committee were reviewing ballots," the statement said. "We are committed to full transparency and will continue to provide updates as they are available."

While the votes were uploaded to the tabulation computer, the statement added, they weren't transferred and included as part of the unofficial final tally.

KHOU reported that both county party chairs – Odus Evbagharu of the Harris County Democrats and Cindy Siegel of the Harris County GOP – issued statements on the oversight.

Evbagharu said he spoke to Longoria's office and requested immediate action be taken.

"We expect action to be taken quickly," Evbagharu said in his statement, according to KHOU. "Voters should know the Harris County Democratic Party is actively monitoring the situation."

Siegel reiterated her disappointment in Longoria in her statement and further demanded the elections head answer for the oversight, as well as the election night delay.

"Every voter regardless of party should be able to have confidence that their vote has been properly counted," Siegel said, KHOU reported. "Unfortunately, this is another example of the serious mismanagement of Lina Hidalgo’s unqualified elections administrator. Isabel Longoria owes all Harris County voters an explanation.”

The Central County Committee will add the missing votes to the final tally at its meeting tomorrow (March 8), according to Longoria's office.