Challenges put Houston election results in doubt

HOUSTON — What is usually a routine post-election activity — swearing in a new batch of city council members — was anything but routine Monday.

Houston Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson said that the council had scheduled Monday's meeting to seat the new council members and select a new mayor and deputy mayor from among its ranks.

But 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.

He said that prior to the meeting he had personally helped the clerk review 10 challenges and two of those were from candidates. More complaints could have come in after he left, he said.

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 this winter.

At the time, 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 his role in the outcome.

So what happens now? Wilson said that the council canceled the meeting it had scheduled for Thursday.

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

The council won't meet until the issue is resolved. If the attorney and the clerk say the election should be certified the council will meet the Thursday after the new members are seated. If the attorney and clerk recommend holding another election, the council will have to meet and decide whether and how to comply with that recommendation.

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