Pending the recount, incumbent Republican Linda Harper-Brown is just 20 votes ahead of the Democrat Bob Romano in the HD105 tally. Republicans are worried that 20 vote lead will evaporate if all the legal ballots are counted. Harper-Brown is a staunch ally of embattled Speaker Tom Craddick, whose grip on the Speaker’s post is tenuous regardless of the outcome in HD105. However, Harper-Brown’s race is the only thing keeping the Texas House from being evenly divided with 75 Democrats and 75 Republicans. Read more about Harper-Brown’s harsh partisan past here.
Secretary of State Does Partisan Flip Flop on Ballot Counting Instructions
In a memo dated October 31, 2008, Ann McGeehan, Director of Elections in the Secretary of State’s office, directed County Clerks/Elections Administrators to count so-called “emphasis votes” involving straight party votes properly under state law, stating:
“An individual vote for a candidate in the same column as a straight-party mark is regarded as an “emphasis” vote and does not invalidate the straight-party mark. If the only individual votes are emphasis votes, the vote is tallied the same as a straight-party vote without regard to the emphasis votes.”
However, in a blatantly partisan memo sent to the Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet on November 20, 2008, Ms. McGeehan offered a different opinion in direct contradiction to her October 31 instructions. The HD105 recount committee was instructed to interpret “emphasis votes” as an attempt by the voter to intentionally “deselect” the candidate of the same party for whom both a straight party vote and an individual vote was cast, meaning straight party votes would not count for those individual candidates. Ms. McGeehan attempted to justify her reversal by using a case involving the way electronic voting machines function, instead of simply following the law to ascertain the voter’s intent and properly count all ballots.
Democrats insisting on fairness
Democrats are only asking for a fair election and recount, conducted under existing state law, to make sure valid votes are counted and invalid votes are not, but Republicans are obviously focused on protecting Harper-Brown at any cost.
There is no assurance that even if a proper recount is conducted that Democrat Bob Romano will prevail. However, win or lose, Democrats believe that every valid vote must be counted and state law must be followed as written, not as interpreted by partisan election officials.
