It’s not uncommon for Harris County, the largest county in Texas, to experience some sort of delay in getting the final unofficial Election Day results from the election’s office.
In the State of Texas, all counties are required to report unofficial final results by a 7:00 p.m. deadline (or within 24 hours of polls closing on Election Night). In recent years, the latest reporting was nearly 7:00 a.m. But that’s still 12 hours shy of the deadline.
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KPRC2 Investigates put together a timeline of recent elections and events that led to these delays or in some cases, record reporting times.
Nov. 2, 2021 - Joint General and Special Elections
Final Unofficial Results Released: Approximately 5:54 a.m. · Nov. 3, 2021
In the most recent election in November, there was a power outage at the central counting location, delaying tabulations.
After a power outage today I did a full system reboot to make sure the election tabulators weren’t affected.
— Isabel Longoria (@LongoriaTx) November 3, 2021
That set us back three hours to ensure the integrity of our system. I’m not happy about the late results - but I prefer accuracy over speed when it comes to elections.
— Harris County Elections (@HarrisVotes) November 2, 2021
May 1, 2021: Joint Election
Final Unofficial Results Released: Approximately 12:21 a.m. · May 2, 2021
And there you have it! Final unofficial results will be available on https://t.co/UnDVEDlunk shortly. #HarrisVotes #HOUnews https://t.co/owkp0ojRo1
— Harris County Elections (@HarrisVotes) May 2, 2021
April 19, 2021: Early Voting for Joint Election
Early voting begins in Harris County ahead of the May 1, 2021 election day. New voting machines are introduced that offer a paper trail.
Today’s the day! Our new voting machines’ debut! Here's a refresher for the Harris County voters whose municipality has an election underway ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0lZugi5Lkw
— Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) April 19, 2021
Nov. 3, 2020 General and Special Elections
Final Unofficial Results Released: 12:20 a.m. · Nov. 4, 2020
In the November 2020 General Election in which the presidential race was decided, the final unofficial results came in just after midnight at 12:20 a.m.
Nov 5, 2019 Joint General and Special Elections
Final Unofficial Results Released 7:00 a.m. · Nov. 6, 2019
In the November 2019 general election, Harris County experienced a 12-hour delay before the final unofficial results were released. Police officers were required to escort ballot boxes from more than 700 polling locations to a central counting station to be tallied. In previous years, the ballot boxes were sent to 10 counting locations and the tallies would be sent electronically.
We know everyone is interested in the Election Day results. At this time, we anticipate the next batch of results will be the final tabulation. Thank you for your patience as we work to get the results out in a secure and efficient manner. pic.twitter.com/DzMChXNLWy
— Harris County Elections (@HarrisVotes) November 6, 2019
May 4, 2019 Joint Election
May 4, 2019: 9:49 p.m.
First election in Harris County with the Countywide polling place program. According the Harris County Elections the voting centers reported in record time. The final unofficial results were released at 9:49 p.m.
Harris County has successfully conducted its first election utilizing the Countywide polling place program. 113 of 113 voting centers have reported in record time. To view the Final Unofficial results visit https://t.co/ZL5spu2Tyt
— Harris County Elections (@HarrisVotes) May 5, 2019