Outgoing Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced six felony charges against a former employee of the Harris County Elections Administrator’s Office. The charges are related to the county’s botched 2022 election, during which voters were disenfranchised by Election Day polling places running out of ballot paper.
According to Ogg, Darryl Blackburn allegedly worked full time at the county elections office—where he was tasked with allocating voting equipment and ballot paper to the polls—and also worked full time at another job in The Woodlands for 15 months.
Blackburn even claimed to have worked for the county on Election Day, when he was actually working his second job.
Ogg said Blackburn asked for and was granted paid family leave from the county—ultimately amounting to around $21,000 worth of time—and signed a policy with the county saying he would not work another job while on leave, a provision he was knowingly already violating.
“The investigation found no evidence of the intent to impact the outcome of the election for either party,” Ogg said. “But there is evidence to show that Mr. Blackburn’s crime did impact the election.”
Ogg continued, “Some have said this was directed at one party … Our investigation has not found that to be so. While working for the elections office, Mr. Blackburn stole thousands of dollars from Harris County in the sense that he lied on time sheets.”
More importantly, he stole individuals’ right to vote—a basic constitutional right in our democracy—because people on both sides were delayed in their voting, halted in their voting, rerouted in their voting. I don’t know that we’ll actually know the damage there, but it’s compounded by the loss of public trust in our election system here in Harris County.
“By holding Darryl Blackburn criminally responsible, we can at least attribute criminal responsibility to this individual. A public servant who did not serve,” she added.
The district attorney’s office chalked up Blackburn’s actions to greed.
“This investigation has revealed no evidence that anyone intentionally acted in any way to suppress voter turnout or close voting locations based on known voting tendencies, nor did anyone take any action that we found with the intent to away any election, ” said felony prosecutor Michael Levine, Harris County’s chief assistant DA for public corruption. “The motive was much older … greed.”
Blackburn is facing five charges of tampering with evidence, each carrying up to two years in prison, and one charge of theft by a public servant, which carries up to 10 years in prison. His bond was set at $5,000 for each tampering charge, plus $40,000 for the theft charge.
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth issued the following statement:
The activities that occurred during the November 2022 elections in the now-defunct Elections Administrator’s Office do not reflect the integrity or opposition of the Harris County Clerk’s Office. Since September 1, 2023, when the legislature returned the conduct of election to the Harris County Clerk’s Office, we have conducted six successful, legal, and transparent elections in nine months. With the support of the Secretary of State, the County Attorney’s Office, the Democratic and Republican parties, and all stakeholders, we are committed to continuing to afford all citizens of the county fair and accessible elections.
Hudspeth took over running Harris County’s elections after a state law passed last year abolished the position of an appointed elections administrator, which was created by county commissioners in 2020 under County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
The last appointed Elections Administrator, Clifford Tatum, was a Democrat appointee under investigation for mismanaging the November 2022 election—the first election he ran for the county after he was hired from out of state to replace Isabel Longoria.
Failures by Tatum’s office, including not delivering enough ballot paper to dozens of polling places on Election Day, prompted 21 Republican candidates to contest the outcomes of their elections.
