Following the Harris County primary election—where thousands of ballots went uncounted, polling places were improperly supplied and staffed, and results were reported an unprecedented day later than state law requires—Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria resigned.
Harris County Republican Party Chairman Cindy Siegel called the county primary “an unmitigated disaster” in a press conference following the election.
Nevertheless, despite Longoria’s failings as an administrator and her subsequent resignation, the League of Women Voters of Texas chose Longoria as the keynote speaker and honoree at their “Making Democracy Work” dinner.
“Isabel’s goal is to build access for Harris County’s 2.5 million registered and future voters,” reads Longoria’s biography on the LWVTX website. “Under her tenure, elections are administered with a focus on equity, access, fairness, and security – an approach that has led to the adoption of new voting machines, more data transparency, and higher rates of voter turnout in the country’s third largest county.”
Prior to her appointment in 2020 by Democrats who control the Harris County government, Longoria had no experience running elections.
Houston Talk Radio Host Kenny Webster posted the LWVTX advertisement for the dinner on Twitter with the caption, “This years theme: how to (not) get away with fraud.”
The dinner is set to occur in April and also honors three other county elections administrators: Heider Garcia of Tarrant County, Michael Scarpello of Dallas County, and Bruce Sherbert of Collin County.
While the League of Women Voters is nominally nonpartisan, the organization’s advocacy efforts trend left of center and often align with Democrats. The LWVTX strongly opposes voter ID and other election integrity measures, including the recently enacted Senate Bill 1.
The league’s statement following Longoria’s resignation said, “We applaud the professionalism that the Harris County Election Administrator, Isabel Longoria, and her staff demonstrated during this very complicated and confusing election. That these challenges led to Ms. Longoria’s resignation is unfortunate.”
The statement then further blamed Senate Bill 1 for “disenfranchising” voters, claiming, “Because of this new election law, too many voters were silenced during our primary elections.”
Texas Scorecard contacted the LWVTX to ask if they intended to change the dinner’s speaking line-up following Longoria’s recent failures. The LWVTX did not respond prior to publication.
