I’m a little puzzled by this.
With the March primaries around the corner, Harris County still does not have a confirmed location to run its election operations. Two of the county’s regular sites – NRG Arena and George R. Brown Convention Center – are booked already, leaving county officials scrambling to find a large enough space that is available.
Texas primaries will be held on March 5, but the county needs a location before early voting begins Feb. 20. That’s when NRG will be focused on a different kind of horse race. It serves as the primary horse competition facility for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. George R. Brown Convention Center will host the Texas Association of School Business Officials, followed by Commodity Classic, the annual convention and trade show of the wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum industries.
After years of turnover of Harris County election officials, County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth recently took over running elections on Sept. 1, following a new state law abolishing Harris County’s appointed elections administrator went into effect.
Weeks later, Hudspeth still hasn’t gotten a moment to catch her breath. She inherited the job just in time to sprint through the Nov. 7 election and Dec. 9 runoff. In January, there likely will be a special election to fill a seat vacated by the winning Houston mayoral runoff candidate, either state Sen. John Whitmire or U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Hudspeth said.
On Tuesday, Hudspeth told Harris County Commissioners Court that while the county is still looking for a location to run the March primaries, the Office of County Administration, Harris County Engineering Department and Harris County Attorney’s Office are all working with Hudspeth to find a solution.
“The one thing that’s keeping me up most at night is where the heck are we going to go for the March primaries,” Huspeth said.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo asked Hudspeth when the county needs the location confirmed.
Hudspeth answered, “Now.”
Jan. 1 is the realistic deadline for securing a site, Hudspeth added.
Hudspeth offered some possible solutions, including a former Sam’s Club store and Northwest Mall, an abandoned shopping mall.
At Tuesday’s meeting, First Assistant County Attorney Jay Aiyer said officials have the issue under control.
“I know the engineering folks have been looking for a suitable location, and we’ve already started the process to expedite any real estate contract that would be needed to make sure the clerk’s in by Jan. 1 at the latest,” Aiyer said.
While Reliant Stadium has been used regularly for counting the votes in November elections, the Rodeo happens every year at that time as the story notes. I have to think this isn’t the first time that the GRB has been unavailable as well, but maybe that’s not true. In any event, Houston is a big city with plenty of potential locations. I’m sure this will get sorted. Indeed, this story was from last week, so it’s possible this has already been resolved. It’s still a little weird.
(For what it’s worth, my first thought was the Toyota Center, but the Rockets have a home game on March 5, so no dice.)