The Houston area’s top election official resigned Tuesday, after receiving scathing criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for a slew of mishaps during last week’s primary elections.
Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria publicly accepted the blame for the failures, which included broken voting machines, long lines during the vote and some 10,000 uncounted ballots that were discovered days after polls closed.
“Today I am submitting my resignation effective July 1,” said Longoria, as she announced her resignation before the Harris County Commission. “Ultimately the buck stops with me. I didn’t meet my standards or those set by the commissioner’s court.”
The embattled elections administrator, in charge of voting in the largest county in Texas, said she would stay on until a replacement can be found to take charge of upcoming elections. Harris County has two upcoming elections in May and the general election in November.
Harsh criticism for Longoria came from both sides of the aisle, as election workers came forward to talk about equipment failures on election day and Democratic voters being turned away due to a lack of party poll workers in the primary.
Longoria is also being sued by the Harris County Republican Party after approximately 10,000 uncounted ballots were found Saturday– four days after the Texas primary elections. The GOP had called for her to step down and for independent oversight of future elections.
Longoria says the roughly 10,000 votes were reported immediately when found by her office. However, Commissioner Tom Ramsey pointed out that’s not how the missing votes were discovered.
“We know about them because of the protocol if the Secretary of State was able to call us and say, ‘Hey, you’re short the 10,000,” said Ramsey.
The roughly 6,000 Democrat and 4,000 Republican uncounted votes have yet to be added to the final tally of votes for Harris County. It’s possible their addition to the tally today could change the outcome of at least two Democratic primary races, according to the Texas Tribune.