HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A visiting judge from Bexar County has ruled that a new election must be held for one of Harris County’s criminal court judges.
In the November 2022 election for the 180th District Court Judge, incumbent Judge DeSean Jones defeated his Republican opponent, Tami C. Pierce, by a margin of 449 votes.
Pierce filed a civil suit against Jones in January 2023, alleging that the narrow margin was due to “improper and likely illegal votes that render the purported outcome incorrect and invalid,” as stated in her lawsuit.
Pierce was among 21 Republican candidates who filed election contests, with Jones and Pierce’s race being the closest.
Judge David Peeples handled the other 20 election contest cases. Fifteen cases were granted summary judgments for the defendants, the plaintiffs dismissed claims in four suits, and one election contest was denied after an eight-day trial involving Judge Tamika Craft.
Peeples’ judgment, filed on May 15, indicated that Pierce’s case progressed at a slower pace. Following a two-day bench trial with three witnesses, Peeples concluded that 1,430 illegal votes were cast in the race, making it impossible to determine the true outcome.
According to court records, Peeples found that 983 votes were cast by individuals residing outside Harris County, six were provisional ballots that should not have been counted, 48 mail ballots lacked a required signature or were not timely, and 445 votes were cast by individuals who did not present a photo ID or an alternate ID document.
Peeples also noted that Jones received a net margin of 321 votes during an additional hour of voting due to an official mistake by the Harris County Elections Administration Office.
As a result, Peeples ruled that a new election must be conducted for the office of Judge of the 180th District Court of Harris County. Additionally, Jones was ordered to pay $65,265 in attorney’s fees for Pierce.
In response to the ruling, Harris County GOP Chairman Cindy Siegel stated, “Judge Peeples’s decision to order a new election confirms what the Harris County GOP has been saying since 2022 – The previous election administrations’ handling of our elections was beyond negligent, resulting in voters’ confidence in our elections being damaged.”
A date for the new election has not been set yet.
Pierce’s attorney, Paul Simpson, released a statement expressing gratitude for the court’s judgment and highlighting the problems with the November 2022 election in Harris County. He also emphasized that Jones owes Pierce over $65,000 in attorney’s fees.
