Lucio Vasquez/Houston Public Media
An investigation into alleged misconduct related to the 2022 general election in Harris County has found no criminal activity related to the campaign, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Tuesday.
Prosecutors say the only case that emerged from the investigation had no impact on the outcome. A former Harris County employee who helped distribute ballots to polling places is facing wage theft charges after allegedly falsifying timesheets.
Michael Levine, assistant district attorney for Harris County, said there was “no evidence that anyone intentionally aimed in any way to lower voter turnout in the 2022 midterm elections in the county.”
Darryl Blackburn, a former data analyst for the now-defunct Harris County Elections Administration Office, is charged with six felony counts – one count of theft and five counts of tampering with government documents.
According to court documents, Blackburn was tasked with distributing equipment and materials, including ballots, to 782 polling places across the county. But the investigation revealed that Blackburn also worked full-time for about 15 months at an oil and gas company, which prosecutors said led to Blackburn’s “negligent blanket allocation” of ballots.
In addition, Blackburn allegedly falsified his timesheets with the county and claimed hours for both jobs simultaneously, earning more than $90,000 from the county and more than $250,000 from his second job during the same period.
Ogg stressed that investigators have found no evidence that Blackburn intended to influence the outcome of the 2022 election or the election in general. Ogg said there are no further charges pending, adding that this is the end of the investigation.
Many voters in Harris County faced significant delays on Election Day 2022 due to voting machine malfunctions, a shortage of ballots and a delayed opening of several polling places, prompting a state judge to order polls to open an hour later than planned.
Just days after the election, Governor Greg Abbott called for an investigation into “allegations of irregularities.” The Harris County District Attorney’s Office launched the investigation shortly after Abbott’s request, with assistance from the Texas Rangers.
Last October, the Texas Secretary of State’s office released a preliminary report analyzing several failures in the 2022 midterm elections in Harris County. The report alleged that the county failed to provide enough ballots at several polling places and noted “widespread equipment failures” as well as discrepancies in the number of registered voters reported to the state. However, the report found no evidence of voter fraud.
“I don’t know if we’ll really know the damage there, but it’s going to be compounded by the loss of public confidence in our electoral system,” Ogg said Tuesday. “People look for complex, conspiracy-theoretical reasons for things that happen, and often it comes down to incompetence and greed.”
Prosecutors say Blackburn turned himself in and appeared in court Tuesday. He is being held on $65,000 bail.
