Challenges put Houston election results in doubt

HOUSTON — The city will need all 10 days it is allowed to figure out if there is any merit to challenges filed in its recent council election.

“We’re checking through e-mails and things, which we have a lot of,” said mayor Rosemary Burnett. “We need the full 10 days to check through all of that stuff.”

The investigation has been going on since Tuesday. The new council members — Paul Stout, Kathy Barney and James Johansen — were scheduled to take their seats Monday evening. Reached Thursday, Stout said it’s a shame voters have to wait so long.

“I don’t like to see the community drug through it,” Stout said. “I think people were just ready for things to calm down.”

Houston has had a tumultuous year of residents attempting to oust the mayor and numerous allegations and rumors flying back and forth. Stout said he isn’t angry he doesn’t get to take his seat right away. He understands why the council is doing what it’s doing. He said he’s just sad that it has happened and wishes the city administration would be more open about its investigation.

As for why the council members weren’t seated, Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson said a number of complaints were filed after last week’s election. He said that according to Houston code, if 10 registered city voters or one candidate files a complaint disputing the election then the new council can’t be seated until the city attorney and city clerk have conducted an investigation.

“According to the code, basically the council’s hands are tied. At that point we have no choice but to order an investigation,” Wilson said Tuesday.

Wilson said that prior to Monday’s meeting he had personally reviewed 10 challenges and that some were from candidates. So the standard was met either way.

Burnett said she and the two other candidates who lost in the election — Alma Hartley and Lee Himes — filed complaints.

Wilson didn’t get into the nature of the complaints.

“I don’t believe that the challenges were to numbers of votes cast it was on election practices in general,” was about as specific as he got.

Last week, the city’s clerk resigned on election day amid accusations he had acted in collusion with a faction of Houstonians seeking to recall then-mayor Roger Purcell. The clerk, Steve Cunningham, said he wasn’t acting with the recall petitioners, just giving them advice.

When Cunningham resigned, Wilson expressed worry over the public’s perception. The clerk had been planning and preparing the election. Even if he quit and was replaced before he could run the actual election and vote count, Wilson wondered how the public would view that.

Burnett said Thursday that the city’s attorney is heading up an investigation and using personnel from the city’s police department to do some of the grunt work.

For now, Burnett, Wilson and Stout all agreed, the city is kind of in a holding pattern.

“We’re just at the mercy of the city attorney I guess,” Stout said.

If the attorney and the clerk say the election should be thrown out, the council will have to meet to figure out what to do about that. If the recommendation is for the council to certify the election, the council will meet to install those new council members as soon as a meeting can be scheduled and advertised.

Wilson said there will be no council meetings until the whole thing is resolved.

“We don’t want it to look like the old council is ramrodding things through at the last minute when the new council should have been seated by now,” Wilson said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.