And, yet, thats not the way its breaking.. The Press has more. Disclaimer | Everyone who has closely read the law agrees the ballots are confidential: the Secretary of States Office, counties across the state, and his own office just a month ago. Dont ask me when that is likely to happen. (That lawsuit is now on hold as negotiations continue.) & Resolutions, Corporate By all accounts, there were maybe 20-25 sites that have paper issues. This is often a good strategy, but it comes with some caveats. The other thing is this: because theres enough prosecutorial discretion thats involved, it takes time obviously justice takes time and any sort of delay in court action could be months from now, long after, hopefully, the crisis and the spike in delta has passed. Governors have broad power under the Disaster Act, he said, noting that the state Supreme Court sided with Abbott when Travis County attempted to enact a New Years Eve curfew for restaurants. Voting, Board At issue is a new state law passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature,Senate Bill 23, that bars large counties from cutting law enforcement spending without getting approval from voters. The Environmental Practice Group enforces environmental laws and related County development regulations. https://mailchi.mp/3860a20fae8b/we-need-your-help?e=cf7bb2b770&fbclid=IwAR3bf6Pdu4mhPHiTnPDtpzT361sMx5VyDAxSnUXy7qM7EbTLGfZabSUiT4w, Clubs in Action PAC (@CIAHTX) 8:32 PM 27 February 2023. 2023-00927; Bruce Bain v. Judge Corey Sepolio. When the Texas Election Networks canvassing efforts in Sunnyside came to light in early July, County Attorney Christian Menefees office said it was investigating this issue and exploring legal options to protect residents and prevent this from happening again., Asked about the status of the investigation this week, county attorney spokesperson Roxanne Werner said, Although we have not found any further activity by this group, we are continuing to monitor the situation and will take action if appropriate. Standards for Court Approval ofAttorney Fees. The affidavits are linked to efforts by a conservative grass-roots organization called the Texas Election Network, which earlier this year attempted to get Sunnyside residents to sign forms verifying the identities of registered voters living at their addresses. I believe that I was wrongfully terminated, and I am seeking compensation for the damages that I have incurred as a result of my wrongful termination. Phony Defunding Claims II: Electric Boogaloo. Operating Agreements, Employment Here are the questions the 5th Circuit asked the Texas Supremes to answer: https://ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/unpub/22/22-50110.0.pdf, Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) 2:45 PM 23 March 2022. It appears you forgot to include your location in the title or body of your post. Harris County Attorneys Office1019 Congress, 15th FloorHouston, TX 77002, Harris County Attorney's Office Staff Directory. State highway officials held fast to their plans for rebuilding Interstate 45 in Houston on Thursday, offering a litany of benefits the project will bring and pressing federal officials to lift a 12-month-and-counting pause on development. Wayne Dolcefino, a media consultant and former TV journalist. We appreciate your patience and look forward to speaking with you soon. Please complete an event and/or meeting request in its entirety using the link(s) below. Maybe you illegally downloaded a movie or song. If it was just mismanagement, it was just gross incompetence, wouldnt one think that the lack of paper would apply equally and uniformly across the map, so that there would be roughly an equivalent number of Democratic stronghold precinct neighborhoods as well as Republican precinct stronghold neighborhoods? Taylor said. In the old days, when you had to vote at your precinct location, you really were screwed. In other words, please find me the people who showed up to vote at a location that was having paper problems, and did not wait for them to be fixed, did not go to another location, did not come back later, and as a result did not vote. You could have voted early! Judge Ramirez is represented by John Staley. While most criminal cases are handled in state courts rather than in federal courts, the types of criminal cases prosecuted by the United States Attorneys Office include white collar fraud, Medicare fraud, drug trafficking, tax evasion, and immigration crimes. Abbotts swift action to get a temporary restraining order lifted was expected, as the governor would not want to be seen as weak while school districts and local governments defy his executive order, said Jon Taylor, professor of political science and chair of the department of political science and geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Reconsidering how the project will incorporate, Mark Montgomery, former candidate forHarris County Criminal Court at Law No. Please update if/when you open the letter. You never know. (Except for Steve Radack, who still has a nice chunk of change in his account.) Former officer Gerald Goines led a raid on the home, which police believed to be a drug den.Jun 21, 2021. Agreements, Letter She offered examples of voters she no longer felt she could help navigate the vote-by-mail process. People also can comment online, via phone or at local TxDOT offices. Change, Waiver Id like to see a whole lot more money spent on non-highway expansion transit, sidewalks and bike trails, flood mitigation, that sort of thing and a whole lot more effort and resources put into designing and building urban and suburban environments where people can live closer to where the work and shop and eat and go to school so that highway driving is less necessary. Business Packages, Construction Vips Application . Orange/Osceola State Attorney's Office. Estates, Forms The criminal division prosecutes criminal cases. Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 1:54 PM. Lawyers for the GOP argue the county is ignoring state election laws and breaking the mandatory chain of custody for ballots. Still, others have been pleasantly surprised when what was once an existential threat is transformed into a manageable inconvenience. Because I have nothing better to say, here are a couple of tweets from Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee: . The only reason we know any of this is because Paxton put out a whiny press release complaining about his inability to get a Montgomery County grand jury to give him what he wanted. 9 Cause No. Each affidavit alleges that numerous registered voters in Harris County do not reside at the addresses listed on their voter registration records, as required by state election law. Instead, hes basically taking this power and turning it into a mechanism to tie local officials hands. I appreciate that Mayor Turner, Congresswoman Jackson Lee, Judge Hidalgo, Commissioners Ellis and Garcia, County Attorney Menefee, and everyone Im forgetting eventually had to say Yes to a sincere and meaningful counteroffer. Please read the Administrative Order below: - Prohibiting Recording of Remote Proceedings, Emergency Public Helath and Safetly Conditions, NEW!!! According to Hegar, Heaps office was allotted about $46.6 million for the 2023 fiscal year. Texas was a pioneer of in-person early voting. However, the hyperlink for that case didnt work when I tried it, and searching for the case via that number returned no results. Chris Daniel is represented by Elizabeth Alvarez. Attorney Fee Standards effective June 1, 2019. . See here for the background, and here for a copy of the ruling. Harris County Attorney January 11, 2021 VIA E-MAIL (opinion.committee@oag.texas.gov) Office of the Attorney General of Texas Attention: Opinion Committee . The group also filed a lawsuit in 2018 obtaining a similar court order in Harris County. The county and Claibornes lawyers are expected later on Friday to debate whether a temporary restraining order and injunction should be granted. But no matter the ultimate outcome, Taylor said, Abbotts political standing will likely remain unaffected. . Good luck with that. Hegar, responding to a fresh complaint from Harris County Constable Ted Heap, said county officials had reduced the budget for Heaps Precinct 5 office by some $2.4 million in their most recent budget. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. As a bail agent for the corporate surety Allegheny Casualty Co., she also worries that the new rule will put her at odds with the insurance company which she fears could violate customer privacy. Alan Rosen had his eye on the Sheriffs office back when Ed Gonzalez was a nominee for head of ICE, but thats off the table now. [Paxtons office wants] to throw a monkey wrench into the operations of vote counting, especially if they think they might lose, and Paxton is in a close race as far as I can tell, said Linda Eads, a professor at Southern Methodist Universitys Dedman School of Law and a former deputy attorney general for litigation for the state of Texas. Advise and represent clients in courts, before government agencies, and in private legal matters. Who is the county attorney Harris County? After provisional and mail-in ballots were counted, the incumbent for Harris Countys 180th Criminal State District Court, DaSean Jones, went from trailing Republican Tami Pierce to leading by less than 500 votes, the Houston Chronicle reported. Judge Craft is represented by Steve Kherker. Once it has a foothold, the momentum only goes in one direction. The only other race that is close enough to be even theoretically affected by the provisional ballots is the County Criminal Court #3 race, where Porsha Brown trails by the even smaller margin of 267 votes. Ron DeSantis' office sent a letter to State Attorney Monique Worrell demanding answers after an alleged shooter with a criminal history was allowed to stay on the streets prior to a shooting spree in Pine Hills last week.. Keith Melvin Moses allegedly shot five people in Pine Hills, killing three, which included a television reporter and a 9-year-old on Feb. 22. So, until I hear otherwise, it is my contention that these provisional ballots are not enough to alter any races result, and also that this doesnt matter because all of the ballots should be counted. Under Hegars calculations, Heaps annualized budget would have been about $48.9 million over 12 months nearly $2.3 million off from the $46.7 million figure calculated by the county. Federal officials have lifted their pause on a small piece of the planned Interstate 45 mega-project that will remake downtown Houstons freeway system and has divided state transportation planners, community groups and local politicians. Templates, Name I dont know how likely that is, but it never hurts to talk. Longoria has planned to engage in speeches and hold voter-outreach events but has been unable to do so for fear of criminal prosecution and civil penalties, said Tuesdays filing, adding that Longoria also halted plans to promote mail-in voting with fliers and on social media. As a reminder, and as you can see from the report released by the Elections Office on the 18th, DaSean Jones netted 360 votes from the provisional ballots cast on Election Day. If not, well take the ones off that are not, and then they update their records.. solicit[] the submission of an application to vote by mail from a person who did not request an application. The civil-liability provision creates a civil penalty for an election official who is employed by or an office of the state and who violates a provision of the election code. Second, the lawyer will start identifying their objectives and lining up what evidence theyll need to win their case. of Incorporation, Shareholders Texas Attorney General Website (How to Request Public Information), Harris County Attorneys Office,1019 Congress,15th FloorHouston, TX 77002. Hilton declined to comment on why the office did not ask for the ruling sooner. In fact, when something controversial enough happens to be the subject of a lawsuit, that is exactly when the public most needs to know what the record shows. In a statement, Menefee confirmed his office will file a lawsuit against Hegar. The poll watcher complained to the Harris County GOP, who called the Secretary of State, who called Icsezen and said he was wrong, the poll watcher needed to be allowed in to observe the SVC. Moreover, Harris County is not responsible for the content nor endorses any site which has a link from this page. In December, a motion was filed to get a temporary injunction against the provision of that law that makes it a crime for election officials and election workers to encourage voters to vote by mail, whether or not those voters are eligible under Texas law to do so. Gov. Taylor alleged 80 percent of polling places with paper shortages on Nov. 8 were in areas considered Republican strongholds. Last time around, Hegar folded like a cheap suit after Harris County took the matter to court. Lesley Briones, County Commissioner, Precinct 4, Kim Ogg, District Attorney Harris County will continue to follow Texas law, not the Attorney Generals opinion.. He urged the county to proceed with the lawsuit, rather than relent. An additional $10 collection fee will be added to each invoice referred to collections, as approved by Harris County Commissioners Court in September 2020. Several of them are considering election contests.. Because the Harris and Travis County district attorneys did not appeal, only Longorias challenge to the civil penalty permitted by the civil-liability provision and the Volunteer Deputy Registrars challenge to the criminal liability imposed under the anti-solicitation provision were at issue in the appeal. Their decision was supported by Harris County Commissioners Court and leaders of both political parties, a statement from Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee read. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia. The lawsuit was brought by Harris County election administrator Isabel Longoria and Cathy Morgan, a volunteer deputy registrar who is appointed to help register voters in Travis and Williamson counties. The petition asks the high court to order Harris County to allow election judges to drive their own precinct ballots to the central counting center at NRG Park. My Account, Forms in The voted ballots are the core of the election process and the prohibition on disturbing the ballots (except in limited circumstances as permitted by the Election Code) preserves the integrity of the election itself, wrote Adam Bitter, general counsel for the office,in a letter obtained by Votebeatthrough a public records request. I have $15 Million in Zimbabwe dollars locked in a safe. 2023-00936; Mark Montgomery v. Judge Kelley Andrews. There must be a hearing after notice within ten Attorneys Office, you should contact the former state and federal prosecutors at Oberheiden, P.C. We should be looking for ways to support these public servants rather than constantly undermining the hard work it takes to run an election in the third largest county in the country, added County Attorney Menefee. Sylvester Turner, Mayor Mayor Sylvester Turner serves as the Executive Officer of the City. Its the motion for preliminary injunction, filed on Tuesday the 28th, for which I received a press release from the Harris County Attorneys office, which in turn led me to find the linked article from the Brennan Center (and this Twitter thread), that is trying to make something happen more quickly. As the district court already determined, this law is unconstitutional and prevents election officials from encouraging people to vote by mail, including our seniors, our neighbors with disabilities, and our active-duty service members. This one was filed on December 10, and if there was any news coverage of it I am not able to find it. This contest is one of two current requests by losing Republican candidates to throw out the results of the November 2022 election in certain races. Attorneys for the city and county relied on a dissenting opinion from a judge on the 8th Court of Appeals in a mask mandate case involving El Paso County, Ariens said: that Texas law does not allow the governor to suspend laws giving local governments the ability to respond to public health crises as they see fit. Menefees office asked the EPA to stop any new standard concrete batch plant permits from being issued until the investigation is finished, he said. Call 888-680-1745 for Central Intake with Dr. Nick Oberheiden Letters From The U.S. Attorney's Office Last Updated: 2023-02-04 Oberheiden, P.C. If the facts as stated above are accurate, then this really is another case of political math being used in place of, well, math. Those ballots were cast after a district court judge ordered Harris County polling places to remain open an extra hour because many locations had opened late that morning. In video footage recorded Sunday and reviewed by the Houston Chronicle Thursday, a man carrying the clipboard explains to the resident: What they told us to do is get a yes or no to confirm whether everybody is here. Paxton and one of the district attorneys (Shawn Dick of Williamson County) appealed. January 2022 reports are here, July 2022 reports are here. As the Harris County Attorney, Christian D. Menefee is the chief civil lawyer for the largest county in Texas. The odds that Jones could lose the entire 360 vote net he got from the E-Day provisionals plus another 90 votes in this subset of the total ballots just strike me as extremely remote. I'm a college student making a commute across state lines (to the county the attorney is from) and I have no criminal record or charges in my name. I did not get around to doing the 30-day and 8-day reports from 2022, so what you see here in these reports is not contiguous for those who were on last Novembers ballot. A Republican is going to win during the primary election. I would retain a lawyer and do not talk to any police officers.

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