From the Houston Chronicle: Harris County election judges say they're ready for November, despite host of challenges

Early election is underway, Election day is November 7.

- Click here for the article. 

Many veteran election judges said they're returning for duty despite recent changes and challenges to election administration. This comes as welcome news, given that Harris County will need 1,400 election judges to run its estimated 700 polling locations in the upcoming November election.

Earlier this month, a state law abolishing the county's Elections Administrator's Office went into effect, handing over duties for running elections and voter registration to Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Ann Harris Bennett. The two offices previously were in charge of elections until 2020, when Commissioners Court voted to create an appointed elections administrator position.

Another law went into effect that creates a provision for the state to remove those elected officials if a “recurring pattern of problems” is not rectified.

But the county's elections have been under increased scrutiny for years, dramatically escalating this year with state legislation eliminating its elections office, pending litigation challenging the results of last year's November election and an ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney's Office into a ballot paper shortage last year that had workers scrambling at a small percentage of the county's polling sites.

In addition to those developments, election judges have had to contend with several leadership changes — Hudspeth is the sixth person in six years to run Harris County elections — and new voting equipment, which debuted in 2021 but still presents some difficulties with processing a lengthy two-page ballot.

Despite the title, an election judge isn't a judicial position. Ordinary citizens — such as retirees, teachers and lawyers — are trained to run Harris County's polling locations while voting is underway. During a general election, like the one coming up in November, each polling place needs one judge from each party, in addition to a small staff of paid election workers supporting them.

For More: 

- Harris County’s voter roll errors — if left unexplained — could fuel claims of voter fraud.

From the Texas Tribune: U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Texas death row inmate

For our look at federalism and civil liberties in both 2305 and 2306.

The case is Moore v Texas.


- Click here for the article.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Texas death row inmate Tuesday, sending his case back to the appeals court and invalidating the state's current method of determining if a death-sentenced inmate is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution. Texas' method relies on decades-old medical standards and a controversial set of factors.

The high court's 5-3 ruling in the case of Bobby Moore, a 57-year-old man who has lived on death row for more than 36 years, said Texas’ refusal to use current medical standards and its reliance on nonclinical factors violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting.

As the court has previously instructed, "adjudications of intellectual disability should be ‘informed by the views of medical experts.’ That instruction cannot sensibly be read to give courts leave to diminish the force of the medical community’s consensus," Ginsburg wrote.

. . . In 2014, a Texas state court used current medical standards to determine Moore was intellectually disabled and could not be executed. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overruled the decision, claiming the lower court erred by using those standards instead of the state’s test.

The test, commonly known as the Briseno standard, was established by the Court of Criminal Appeals in 2004, two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing the intellectually disabled was unconstitutional. The court defined the test using a medical definition from 1992 as well as several other factors to help courts determine adaptive functioning. The Court of Criminal Appeals claimed, based on those factors, that Moore doesn’t have the disability.

Included in those factors is a controversial reference to Lennie, a character from John Steinbeck’s novel “Of Mice and Men.” The Briseno opinion written by the Court of Criminal Appeals said most citizens might agree a person like Lennie should be exempt from execution. The state has argued the reference was an “aside;” critics say it exemplifies the arbitrariness of defining intellectual disability in Texas.

For more:

- Scotusblog: Moore v Texas.
- The decision.
- Oyez: Moore v Texas.

From the Houston Press: DA Ogg, Police Leaders Announce Landmark Marijuana Diversion Program

A product of the fact that county officials are elected by county voters.

- Click here for the article.

District Attorney Kim Ogg and heads of local law enforcement announced Thursday that, starting March 1, all police agencies in Harris County will no longer arrest people caught with four ounces or less of marijuana, and the DA's office will no longer be prosecuting those cases.

The remarkable move, which Ogg had championed throughout her 2016 campaign, pushes the third largest county in the nation to the forefront of marijuana reform in places where it is still illegal. Harris County will join only the Brooklyn County District Attorney's Office in New York in choosing to divert misdemeanor marijuana defendants away from jail entirely, saving taxpayers millions of dollars and saving thousands of people the lifelong burden of a criminal record.

Instead of being arrested and hauled off to jail, low-level potheads and casual smokers will instead be asked to take a four-hour decision-making class, at a cost of $150 (exceptions will be made for indigent people). Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Ogg in developing the landmark policy. It replaces former district attorney Devon Anderson's First Chance Diversion Program, which only applied to first-time offenders caught with less than two ounces, which Ogg had criticized as being too narrow.

“At 107,000 cases over the last ten years, we have spent in excess of $250 million dollars collectively prosecuting a crime that has produced no tangible evidence of improved public safety,” Ogg said. “Additionally, the collateral damage to our workforce is immeasurable — because what we have done is we have disqualified, unnecessarily, thousands of people from greater job, housing and education opportunities by giving them a criminal record for what is in effect a minor law violation.”

And of course, there's an effort to push back against the initiative.

- Houston Chronicle: Ogg under fire for new marijuana plan.

From the Houston Chronicle: Shake-up at the courthouse: Incoming DA Ogg hands pink slips to 37 top prosecutors

Harris County's new District Attorney is changing the direction of the office.

- Click here for the article.

In her first major action as Harris County's incoming district attorney, Kim Ogg announced Friday she had shown 40 prosecutors the door in a massive shake-up that eliminated a senior level of supervisors and career trial attorneys.

Ogg, who was elected in November as the county's chief prosecutor, notified 37 attorneys Friday that their services would not be needed when she takes office Jan. 1. Three others retired before Ogg's emails went out.

"Change is coming," she told reporters after news broke that more than 10 percent of the 329 lawyers in the DA's office would not be returning in the new year. "Like any good team that has suffered some under-performing seasons, we're changing management. My administration is heading in a new direction."

The terminations had been expected as Ogg - who ran on a campaign of reform - installs her own lieutenants and administrators with a new organizational structure.

. . . Under Anderson, the district attorney's office has a hierarchy that includes about six bureau chiefs, more than 20 division chiefs and dozens of trial and section chiefs who oversee staff lawyers.

Ogg got rid of a number of Anderson loyalists and some prosecutors tied to scandals that have erupted over Anderson's three-year tenure.

Ogg said the majority of her termination decisions fell on longtime employees who worked as supervisors. She declined to discuss specific employees but said her primary focus was to eliminate management positions created by her predecessor.

"It's a difficult process and one that is entirely necessary," she said. "Of the lawyers who were released or given the opportunity to resign, most are eligible to retire. Few of them handle cases on a day-to-day basis."

Some of the highest-ranking prosecutors to go include First Assistant Belinda Hill, Chief of Staff Kathy Braddock and top lieutenants Maria McAnulty, Karen Morris, Roe Wilson, Dick Bax and Jane Waters, all of whom were bureau chiefs. Craig Goodhart and Terrance Windham, who also were bureau chiefs, recently retired.

Other well-known prosecutors who were asked to leave the office include three division chiefs: Julian Ramirez over civil rights; Bill Moore over major frauds; and Lance Long over the major narcotics cases. Also notified that they will be leaving are Alison Baimbridge, who prosecuted high-profile DWI cases and other vehicular homicides; Alan Curry, an appellate chief who successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court; and Inger Chandler, who headed the conviction review section.

I'll hunt around for an organizational chart of the office - both old and new. It'll add useful content for 2306.

From the Houston Press: What You Can Expect to See Under Kim Ogg as Harris County District Attorney

A look at what to expect from one of the few bright spots for Democrats last week

- Click here for the article.

After defeating Republican incumbent Devon Anderson at the polls, Democrat Kim Ogg is taking over the Harris County District Attorney's Office in a contentious time for criminal justice in Houston, in Texas, and frankly, in the United States. She will become the gatekeeper with the power to decide who belongs in the overcrowded Harris County Jail, the third-largest in the country, and will wield the power to rewrite policies that either strengthen or weaken punishment for those charged with low-level, nonviolent crimes.

And Ogg will take over just as a perfect storm brews for criminal justice reform here in Harris County, at every corner of the system. She takes over as the county, its misdemeanor judges and bail hearing officers face a lawsuit for allegedly failing to consider poor people's ability to pay bail, as the Constitution requires. She takes over as the county makes use of a prestigious $2 million grant to enact reforms intended to equalize the system for racial minorities, for the mentally ill and for the poor. And she takes over as the nationwide war on drugs continues to recede from prominence.

Ogg has repeatedly promised her supporters, throughout the campaign and during her victory speech, that "it’s a new day of justice in Harris County." It's a romantic notion, sure — but what does that actually look like in practice?

From the Texas Tribune: Analysis: The blue dots in Texas’ red political sea

More on Democratic gains at the local level.

- Click here for the article.

Tuesday’s election results offer further evidence that Texas mirrors America, with urban voters strongly favoring Democrats, while rural and many suburban voters favor Republicans.

Republican Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in 227 of the state’s 254 counties, racking up an advantage of 1,697,593 votes.

His biggest vote yield came in Montgomery County, one of several suburban counties — like Collin, Denton and Parker — that turned in reliably high Republican votes. Tarrant was the most populous county in his column, turning in a pile of Republican votes in spite of Clinton’s victory in Fort Worth, its biggest city.

Trump also won many of the state’s mid-size cities and nearly all of its rural areas.
Clinton beat Trump in 27 counties by a total of 883,819 votes. That was enough to cut his overall margin in half, but not nearly enough to pull off a Texas upset.

Her wins came in some of the state’s biggest counties — Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis, El Paso, Hidalgo and Fort Bend. He won the vast majority of rural Texas, but not everything: Clinton took a few relatively unpopulated counties like Kenedy and Culberson.

Trump’s overall margin was smaller than Mitt Romney’s 2012 win in Texas. In fact, the Republican at the top of this year’s ticket got a smaller percentage of the overall vote in Texas than any of the eight Republicans running statewide here, a group that included candidates for the Railroad Commission and the state’s two highest courts. Conversely, Clinton got a higher percentage of the vote than any of the Democrats running statewide.

A win is a win is a win, and this year belonged to the Republicans. Their streaks are intact: They’ve won the last 10 presidential elections in Texas and every statewide race in every election since 1994. But one takeaway from this year’s contests is that Democrats reduced the normal Republican margins and their scattered blue spots on the Texas map — the state’s biggest cities — turned in stronger Democratic performances than they have in the past.

From the Houston Press: Gonzalez Unseats Hickman to Become Harris County Sheriff

State and national races aside, Democrats did well in Harrow County

- Click here for the article.

Democratic challenger Ed Gonzalez defeated incumbent Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman by nearly 64,000 votes Tuesday. Hickman conceded to Gonzalez shortly after 10 p.m., with roughly 81 percent of the votes counted.

Since Hickman's appointment by the Harris County Commissioners Court in May 2015, his administration had been plagued by continuing problems at the Harris County Jail — poor conditions that Hickman blamed largely on his predecessor, Adrian Garcia. (Garcia stepped down to run for mayor).

In a September interview with Houston Public Media, Gonzalez, a former Houston Police Department homicide detective and three-time city councilman, called Hickman's administration "stagnant" and "almost going backwards."

Gonzalez told the radio station “There’s three things that we’re addressing in law enforcement that do not have a law enforcement response, and that’s mental illness, poverty, and addiction. We’ve got to find community-based solutions to that."

Hickman's campaign had centered largely on the fact that Gonzalez was no longer a licensed peace officer, while stressing the incumbent's law enforcement bona fides. This earned him endorsements by the Houston Police Officers Union, the Harris County Deputies Organization and the Mexican-American Sheriffs Organization. (Perhaps even more importantly, he had the blessing of Gallery Furniture founder Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale).

But Gonzalez was endorsed by the Houston Chronicle, saying that the former homicide detective and three-term city councilman "built a record as a policymaker dedicated to diverting people from our jail — one of the major challenges facing the sheriff's office."

For background on problems with the Harris County jail:

- Jailhouse jeopardy: Guards often brutalize and neglect inmates in Harris County Jail, records show.

Harris County's Long Ballot - 2016 Edition

I'm not sure if this is the longest in the nation - which it often is - but it's pretty long.

- Click here for it.

Early voting begins in Texas

Yesterday anyway - I'm a tad tardy on this.

A few items:

- Houston Public Media: Big Turnout On First Day Of Early Voting In Harris County.

Early voting is under way in Texas and turnout has been strong across greater Houston, including Harris County.

The office of Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart calculated that, on average, 6,000 people were voting per hour during the morning of October 24th, the first day designated for early voting.

“That’s higher than what we’ve ever done before in Harris County’s history. So, the turnout is strong and, with the expanded hours that we have this, you know, first week, it will even be a higher turnout this week,” Stanart commented as he visited the polling place located at the Metropolitan Multi Service Center, on West Gray Street, near the Montrose Area.

Several voters who went to that location said they had never seen such a long line.

- KPRC: Record turnout expected for early voting.

Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart says he’s expecting a record turnout as early voting begins Monday for the two weeks prior to the Nov. 8 Election Day.

As the possibility of cheating continues to be a national topic, Stanart says voting fraud is rare but is a possibility, especially with the ballot by mail process.

”We do have many cases where we suspect voter fraud in our ballot by mail process but to get to where we can get an indictment is a whole different case,” he said. “You’ve got to actually find the exact person that’s doing it because it’s obvious there’s something going on, but to be able to prove it so we can get the conviction, that’s where the difficult part is.”

Stanart has heard Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's claims that the election is rigged and that there is a chance for him to lose the election because of fraud. Stanart says while it is not perfect, the Harris County system will not be easily compromised and he sought to allay people's concerns that their votes will not be counted.

- The Facts: Brazoria County prepares for higher turnouts with new equipment, extra polling locations.

In a presidential election season where anything can, and will, happen, the Brazoria County Elections Department plans to make sure voters have no surprises at the polls.
“I keep telling everybody I want to go out with a bang, but I want it to be a good bang,” joked Janice Evans, the county’s outgoing elections director.

Elections officials spent $162,000 for 56 new voting machines from Hart InterCivic Inc. to brace themselves for a voter rush at the polls, as well as accommodate the 10 extra polling locations added for the Nov. 8 election to stem the flow in certain areas.

“We were waiting for the big turnout so we want to be prepared,” Assistant Elections Director Lisa Mujica said. “We have about 800 pieces of equipment back here.

“We’ve already brought them in and set them up and labeled them and tested them. We’re ready to go.”

Voter turnout is historically paltry both statewide and locally, with only 30.46 percent of registered Brazoria County voters showing up to the polls last year. However, the most contentious presidential election in recent memory has primed election officials for higher numbers.

“It’s the intensity of it,” Mujica said.

From the Texas Tribune: Record early voting numbers reported across Texas.

After the first day of early voting, Williamson, Bastrop and Hays counties all report having a record-breaking number of people showing up to the polls, the Austin American-Statesman reports.

The lines at various polling places were particularly long, and some voters said they had to wait for hours before casting their ballot. “I usually vote early for the very reason for escaping the lines, and this year that didn’t happen, so we’ll try again,” Amanda Stephens of Corpus Christi told the Tribune. She said she didn’t recall having trouble voting during previous election seasons.

As the Tribune’s Jim Malewitz reports, the Harris County Clerk’s Office said about 53,000 people had cast ballots by 4:30 p.m., which surpassed the roughly 47,000 votes cast on the first day of early voting during the 2012 presidential election. Denton County also saw a large turnout, although voting at 11 places started late because some machines needed to be reprogrammed.

According to Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for Texas Secretary of State Carlos Cascos, it’s difficult to say whether the high polling turnout will continue throughout early voting, which continues until Nov. 4. “Historically, presidential elections tend to attract more voters, especially when there is not an incumbent in the White House,” Pierce said.

From the Houston Chronicle: Harris County breaks record for first day of early voting.

After more than 18 months of exhaustive media coverage, two grueling nomination fights and three combative debates, voters in Harris County and across Texas lined up in record numbers Monday to cast early ballots in the presidential election.

Monday's turnout of 67,471 in-person voters shattered the county record of 47,093 set in 2012 for the first day of early voting. Another 61,543 mail ballots had been returned as of Monday, bringing the total number of early voters so far to 129,014 in Texas' most populous county.

From the Houston Bar Association: Results for 2016 Judicial Preference Poll

Here's how lawyers and Houston plan to vote for judicial positions.

Just info on Harris County unfortunately.

- Click here for the results.

What's on the Harris County Ballot?

Lot's more than on the Brazoria County ballot - as well as most of the country. Often it's the longest ballot presented to voters anywhere in the US, which means Harris County citizens have lot;s of homework to do it they are going to cast informed votes.

. . . if. ;)

- Click here for it.

We'll walk through it now and then.

From the Harris County Auditor's Office: The Final Estimate of Available Resources Fiscal Year 2015

A fun little read for 2306 - and a little detail in what the county auditor does.

It also provides a good list of all the components of Harris County's government.

- Click here for the report.

From the intro, addressed to members of the commissioners court:

In accordance with the Texas Local Government Code (LGC) §111.063, the County Auditor has prepared a “Final Statement of Estimated Available Resources” to be used in developing the Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 Appropriations Budget for Harris County and the Harris County Flood Control District. The estimate of available resources is comprised of available beginning cash and cash equivalents, plus estimated revenues and transfers‐in for the upcoming fiscal year. The available beginning cash balances for FY 2015 have been adjusted by a projection of the County’s accounts receivable and liability account balances at January 28, 2014. The “Final Statement of Estimated Available Resources” includes all information as required by Chapter 111 of the Local Government Code:

 Outstanding obligations of the County. 

 Cash on hand to the credit of each fund.

 Funds received from all sources during the preceding fiscal year.

 Funds and revenues estimated to be received from all sources during the preceding fiscal year.

 Funds and revenues estimated to be received during the ensuing fiscal year.

 A statement of all accounts and contracts on which sums are due to or owed by the County as of the last day of the preceding fiscal year, except for taxes or court costs.

If that's not enough and you need more on county budgets, here you go:

- Harris County Budget Management Department.
- Brazoria County Budget Fiscal Year 2015.

From ABC13: HARRIS COUNTY APPROVES $105M ASTRODOME REVITALIZATION PLAN

Harris County Commissioners Court has decided what to do with the dome - parking, storage and exhibit spaces. Why this does not need approval by the voters I do not know, perhaps because the county can afford the plan already.

- Click here for the article.

From the Houston Chronicle: Anderson, Ogg debate DA priorities - Anderson, Ogg spar over victim's jailing, evidence scandal

Who will be Harris County's next District Attorney?

- Click here for the article.

Before the fireworks erupted on national television between Clinton and Trump on Monday, Houston saw its own fiery debate between the candidates for Harris County district attorney.

Republican incumbent Devon Anderson and Democratic challenger Kim Ogg pulled no punches in the only debate scheduled for the county's top law enforcement post.

"I think it's apparent for anybody who has been listening to Ms. Ogg that she is clearly not fit to be the Harris County district attorney," Anderson said in closing after a raucous debate in front of more than 300 people. "She can't do half of what she says she's going to do."

In her closing, Ogg reminded voters of the litany of problems that have erupted across the county's criminal justice system.

"We have a justice system that should rely upon evidence, but instead is being run by prosecutors who are led, apparently, by a win-at-all costs philosophy," Ogg said. "I have a vision for a justice system that treats us all the same under the law, that tries to help people, not just convict them."

The two women sparred over the treatment of a mentally ill rape victim who was jailed for several weeks last year by prosecutors under Anderson. They also talked at length about the emerging scandal over the unauthorized destruction of evidence at the Precinct 4 Constable's Office.

From the Houston Chronicle: Precinct 4's evidence destruction scandal part of larger pattern in constables' offices

For 2306, and our coverage of county offices.

- Click here for the article.

With Harris County's Precinct 4 Constable's Office mired in scandal over the improper destruction of 21,000 pieces of evidence, serious evidence cataloging and control problems also have been uncovered in the constables' offices in Precincts 3,6 and 7, according to interviews and audits obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

While there is no proof yet that evidence has been unlawfully destroyed in those other three offices, 2,000 items were initially reported missing in Precinct 3; guns, jewelry, electronics and cash were misplaced in Precinct 6; and Precinct 7's evidence room has been described as "a shambles."

In Precinct 4, where the evidence destruction scandal is still unfolding, prosecutors so far have dismissed 100 criminal cases and are still determining how many convictions could be affected by years of careless work blamed on a corporal fired for illegally disposing of drugs, guns and evidence. The episode remains the subject of a criminal probe.

Only time will tell whether chaotic evidence handling practices reported in Precincts 3,6 and 7 will result in case dismissals, appeals or further investigations.

Harris County auditors in May 2015 uncovered evidence problems - never made public - in a review of the overstuffed property room inside the Precinct  6 Constable's Office in the East End. There, auditors reported finding 28 percent of the evidence missing along with $54,000 in cash in a review of a sample of 799 items, the audit shows. Their visit to the office came only months after the previous constable, Victor Treviño, resigned after pleading guilty to misappropriating money from a charity he ran out of his office.

From the Texas Monthly: A Hard Look at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office

For our look at counties - plus the upcoming election.

- Click here for the article.

The recent revelation that Harris County deputies improperly disposed of evidence from hundreds of criminal cases—forcing the dismissal of ninety drug cases, with more dismissals likely to come—is merely the latest blow to the county’s embattled district attorney, Devon Anderson. Anderson was appointed to the position in 2013 by Governor Rick Perry following the death of her husband, former District Attorney Mike Anderson. Although she won election to the office in her own right in 2014, Anderson faces a strong challenge this fall from lawyer Kim Ogg, whom the Houston Chronicle endorsed this weekend.

Although she’s only been in office three years, Anderson has faced more than her share of issues, including:

- Jailing rape victims
- Holding a man in jail after his conviction was tossed out
- Questionable behavior by prosecutors
- Stoking racial fears

From the Texas Tribune: Congressmen Want Investigation of Houston Poll Miscues

For our look at how counties manage - or perhaps mismanage - elections. The article also touches on a controversial topic: Does Texas really want higher voter participation?

- Click here for the article.

Two Houston congressmen are asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether unequal distribution of voting machines and polling locations in Harris County disenfranchised minority voters during the March 1 primary election.In a letter dated March 15, U.S. Reps. Al Green and Gene Green, both Houston Democrats, blamed insufficient voting machines and polling locations for “excessively long lines” in predominantly Hispanic and black precincts in Harris County. Citing local news reports, the congressmen indicated that long lines “deterred” minority voters from “exercising their right to vote that day.”

“The failure to distribute sufficient voting machines in predominantly Hispanic and African-American precincts in Harris County, in comparison to the resources made available in more affluent, predominantly Anglo precincts in the county, had a discriminatory impact on our constituents’ ability to participate in the political process,” the congressmen wrote.

Though Texas ranks among the bottom for voter turnout rates in the country, voter turnout surged in Texas for the March 1 election with more than 4.2 million ballots cast in the primary election — up from about 2 million in 2012.

In Harris County, the state’s largest county, the number of voters casting ballots increased from 240,466 in the 2012 primary to 557,048 this year.

The increased turnout — fueled by a heated Republican presidential race — left election officials scrambling to deliver additional voting machines to polling locations with long lines on election day. Still, some voters in Houston did not cast their votes until after 9:30 p.m. — hours after polls closed. Others reportedly abandoned their place in line without voting after waiting for hours.

The distribution of polling locations in primary elections is a responsibility of each county’s political party, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections and voting. Using a formula based on previous voter turnout, county parties are charged with estimating voter turnout and determining the number of voting machines and polling locations needed.

In case you are curious, here is the formula:

The formula for estimating turnout for the primary elections is:

A x (B + C) = D

Where:

A = the percentage of voter turnout for the office that received the most votes in the most recent comparable party primary election (percentage is the sum of all votes cast for the office that received the most votes in the most recent comparable party primary election divided by the number of registered voters).
B = the number of registered voters as of October preceding the primary.
C = 25% of the number resulting when you multiply A x B.
D = Preliminary Estimated Turnout.

From the Houston Chronicle: Visualizing the country's fifth largest city Unincorporated Harris County may soon bypass Houston's population

Lot's of people live in the unincorporated part of Harris County. This raises interesting questions about the relative wisdom of the complex way that local governments are designed in the state.

Should the Houston and Harris County be consolidated?

- Click here for the article.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and his colleagues frequently note that if the unincorporated parts of the county were a city, it would be the second largest in Texas and the fifth most populous in the United States. Patched together, these unincorporated areas have more residents than 12 U.S. states.

The population in unincorporated parts of the county is ballooning at record pace. Since 2000, 87 percent of the county's population growth has occurred in this unincorporated area. The unincorporated portion now accounts for 42 percent of the county's residents.

This map, based on data from the county engineer, illustrates how much of the county's growing population lives north and west of the downtown hub. If no further annexation occurs, the county budget office anticipates the population in the green area will surpass Houston's population by 2020.

Having an urban population skew this way makes governance complicated and difficult, said Stephen Klineberg, author of yearly population and attitudinal studies at Rice University's Kinder Institute.

Greater Houston has evolved into a multi-centered metropolitan region, he said, with unincorporated sections governed by municipal utility districts that provide "very uneven degrees of governance."

This reality, according to Klineberg, "puts a strain on all the things government tries to deal with -- affordable housing, traffic, park land, crime control."

"It affects the central role of government in improving quality of life and helping urban areas operate," he said.

While some municipal utility districts contract with constables, the unincorporated areas rely on the county for a variety of services including law enforcement, road maintenance, park trails and indigent medical care, said Commissioner Steve Radack.

From the Texas Tribune: Grand Jury Indicts Abortion Foes Behind Undercover Videos

We discuss grand juries in both 2305 ans 2306

- Click here for the story.

A Harris County grand jury on Monday indicted the videographers behind undercover recordings of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston and cleared the women's health provider of any wrongdoing.

The indictments — part of the county prosecutor's investigation into allegations that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue — include charges against anti-abortion activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison. The grand jury handed down a second charge for Daleiden for “Prohibition of the Purchase and Sale of Human Organs," according to the Harris County District Attorney's office. That charge is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail.

The grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston of breaking any laws.

For more background, also from the Texas Tribune:

- Indictment Sheds Light on Planned Parenthood Sting.

The Texas Penal Code indicates that the mere offer to buy or sell human organs, including fetal tissue, is a violation.

While the sale of fetal tissue is illegal, abortion clinics may donate fetal tissue with a patient’s consent for use in medical research. Federal law allows clinics to be reimbursed for costs “associated with the transportation, implantation, processing preservation, quality control, or storage of human fetal tissue” for research purposes — an amount that typically ranges from $25 to $50.

Offering to pay health providers an amount higher than those administrative costs is also a violation of the law.

The charge against Daleiden is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail.

The misdemeanor charge is one result of the Harris County District Attorney’s criminal investigation into allegations that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal tissue. That investigation — launched at the urging of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — focused on undercover recordings of staff at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston discussing the administrative costs of harvesting fetal organs at various stages of gestation.

From Governing Magazine: County Migration Data

Here's an interactive data sheet that let's you see how many people are moving into each county in the nation and which counties they are moving from. Aside from giving a clear indication of internal migration patterns in the US, its a nice time suck.

- Click here for it.

I checked out Harris and Brazoria Counies - of course. Most people who moved into each came from other parts of Texas - ways donw the list came places like Miami and Los Angeles. In 2013-2014 94 people moved to Brazoria County from Miami-Dade County and 93 moved from Los Angeles.

For more from Governing Magazine on Counties:

- What America’s Biggest Counties Have in Common.
- The Counties Where Wealthier People Are Moving.