Houston Democrats: We have not yet begun to count!
“The outcome of the March 4 Democratic caucuses remains unknown in Harris County,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Indeed, “[t]he count has not even begun.” The delay is attributable in part to the more than 70 precincts that have yet to report. The primary was eight days ago.
I was an election judge here in Harris County for the election of 1984, and at 11:30 p.m. that night I was in the office of then-County Clerk Anita Rodeheaver. She was on the phone with the judge of a box that had yet to report. It having been a long day with heavy turnout, the judge had decided to go home, take a meal, and get a good night’s rest. He figured he’d report his box in the morning.
I and others listened with amusement as Rodeheaver told the man that he had but two choices: He could either come downtown of his own volition — now, right now — or wait in the bed for a sheriff’s deputy to arrest him. What was it going to be? Okay, we’ll see you shortly. Rodeheaver was an old-school Democrat.
Now for tidbits from this year:
• 1,473 provisional ballots were cast; of those, two-thirds have been disqualified as ineligible.
• 884 voters reportedly voted twice — first during early voting, and then again on election day. Under state law, voting twice is a felony.
• 1,091 voters reportedly voted in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. This too is a no-no.