Texas county elections chief resigns over botched primary

Harris County, Texas, Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria (D) resigned on Tuesday after multiple mishaps marred this month’s primary elections.

“Ultimately, the buck stops with me,” Longoria said, the Houston Chronicle reported. “Now, we have a real opportunity to have a hard but necessary conversation in order to solve the problems for future elections and further bolster elections administration.”

She will officially step down on July 1 after she was asked to resign by Republicans and Democratic County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

Issues with the March 1 primary included a lack of support form the elections office, malfunctioning machines and lack of supplies, according to the Chronicle.

The county also found 10,000 uncounted ballots the week after the election was over. Officials said the votes contained around 6,000 Democratic ballots and 4,000 Republican ballots.

Hidalgo stressed in her request for Longoria to step down that there was no evidence of widespread fraud, according to the Houston Chronicle.

“To be clear, there are unforced errors, irrespective of one party’s efforts to weaken trust in the electoral system, which has happened ever since Donald Trump’s Big Lie,” Hidalgo said. “Particularly because of that, we cannot afford to have unforced errors. It is simply not acceptable.”