Sims pointed out that the concern was about 100 questionable addresses in a county with 2.6 million registered voters. Some have said they use a P.O. box because they travel frequently, although they maintain a primary residence in Harris County. In a complaint to the Secretary of State\u2019s Office, Bettencourt said the addresses were illegal but he did not make claims of voter fraud. <\/p>\n
Sims questioned why a state takeover would be necessary when Republican leaders are apparently concerned about voter registration rolls, not how elections are conducted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth<\/a> was first elected in 2020 and her performance has been lauded by her peers in county government. Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez has been in her role since January 2025 and perhaps inherited voter rolls that need to be updated but has said she is following the law and addressing the concerns raised by Bettencourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sims said Abbott and Bettencourt appear to be \u201cmixing up voter registration with the administration of elections.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose are two different office-holders with two different jobs,\u201d she said. \u201cSince Teneshia Hudspeth took over, there haven\u2019t been any problems with elections.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was an idle threat,\u201d she said of Abbott\u2019s remarks. \u201cIt was more of a political statement than an actual plan of action.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some have surmised that politics is at play. The governor said last year he wants to turn Harris County \u201cdark red\u201d and is planning to spend a significant amount of his $90 million war chest in Houston on his bid for an unprecedented fourth term<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Harris County\u2019s top officials, including Hudspeth, Ramirez, the county judge, Houston mayor and a majority of the commissioners court, are Democrats. County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne, who was appointed by the commissioners court the very day Abbott made his remarks, said the governor has no authority to seize control of Harris County elections or pursue charges against election officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy office works closely with Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Annette Ramirez, and her office has done exactly what it was supposed to do under state law, as the Secretary of State\u2019s office itself has acknowledged,\u201d Fombonne said in an emailed statement. \u201cThis is a baseless attack on local control and the democratic process. Harris County voters deserve better than political theater that undermines confidence in our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n Fombonne, a longtime deputy county attorney, succeeds Christian Menefee, who resigned the office to run as a Democrat for Congressional District 18. Menefee is in a runoff with former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards, scheduled for January 31. Abbott again invoked his narrative of \u201cNo county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County\u201d by delaying<\/a> the CD 18 special election by eight months after the death of former U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n David Froomkin, a law professor at the University of Houston, said Secretary of State Jane Nelson can only lawfully take over an election if she finds, after conducting an investigation, that there is good cause to believe that the county has \u201ca recurring pattern of problems with election administration or voter registration.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA recurring pattern of problems would need to be established with sufficient evidence to meet the good cause standard,\u201d Froomkin said. \u201cIt seems very unlikely that what has been alleged so far would be sufficient to meet that standard. For one thing, the election code permits voters to register with a mailing address in some circumstances. If the secretary of state were to seek to impose administrative oversight, ultimately a court would have to determine the adequacy of the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Hudspeth said in an email that her office is responsible for conducting elections and performs those duties in accordance with the Texas Election Code.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe County Clerk\u2019s Office does not maintain or manage voter registration rolls,\u201d she said. \u201cVoter registration and the maintenance of voter rolls are handled by the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector, who serves as the Voter Registrar. The County Clerk\u2019s Office remains committed to administering elections with transparency, accuracy, and integrity, and to ensuring voters understand the distinct roles of county election operations and voter registration responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris County hired its first elections administrator in 2020, taking the responsibility of running elections away from the county clerk. It didn\u2019t go well, Sims said, and the employee lasted about 20 months on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of Republican precincts ran out of ballots, the paper to fill the ballot, at their locations,\u201d Sims said. \u201cThat was under the elections administrator. So the county fired that person and then Paul Bettencourt passed the state law abolishing the elections administrator for Harris County only and moved elections back to the county clerk.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jonathan-Fombonne.jpg\")
Harris County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne says the governor has no authority to seize control of Harris County elections. Credit: Harris County Attorney’s Office<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Teneshia-Hudspeth.jpg\")
Teneshia Hudspeth is pictured at an October press conference at the Harris County elections headquarters. Credit: April Towery<\/p>\n