Election results will likely come much later this year, clerk says

HOUSTON – Election night will likely be a long one for some candidates as results will be coming much later this year.

Harris County Clerk Diane Trautman said Friday that a late change by the Secretary of State's Office in the rules for vote counting is forcing election officials to change the way the numbers are released.

Trautman said a plan that was approved by the Secretary of State's Office in August called for ballots from the county's 757 voting sites to be brought to 10 counting locations to be tallied and sent electronically to the county's central count station. From there, the numbers would be released to the public.

The rule change requires all 757 voting sites to take the ballot boxes to the central count station before they can be counted and released, Trautman said.

Election officials said that while results from early voting and mail ballots are expected to be released shortly after polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday, results from Election Day voting will likely not be released until at least 2 a.m.

The Secretary of State's Office has not replied to a request by KPRC 2 for comment about the rule change.