In a two part investigative report, Greenblatt exposes the voter suppression tactics – which tend to be passed off as “simple mistakes” or “human error” – being used to disenfranchise thousands of voters their right to vote in Harris County. These tactics are being carried out by Republican elected Paul Bettencourt, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar.

It seems Bettencourt, has a nasty habit of excluding certain voters out of the voter rolls and is willing to lie to the Texas Legislature to make his case. Prior to this investigative report, the state office of the League of Women Voters and elections expert Lauri Van Hoose already noted that Harris County had “serious and widespread voter registration problem.”

Here are some of the details from part one of Mark Greenblatt’s report.

Van Hoose said that in Harris County there are “a high number of people being rejected due to inconsistent practices of reviewing applications.”

Van Hoose knows this because she reviewed registration records from the tax assessor’s office.

Greenblatt: “These aren’t just numbers you’re coming up with on your own?”

Van Hoose: “Right.”

Greenblatt: “These are numbers based off his information?”

Van Hoose: “Right.”

Van Hoose’s conclusion is that the problem is bigger than we think.

“This is not one or two registrations,” she said. “This is thousands of registrations.”

But on top of it, she found the county was in no rush to tell would-be voters they were ‘no good.’
….
Van Hoose passed her findings onto the non-partisan statewide League of Women Voters.

“Some people who tried to do this in July are just now hearing that their form is being rejected, and now its too late,” state board member Mary Finch said. She adds, “Putting roadblocks up in front of people, it’s not good”

Ultimately, Finch has come up with a conclusion for the voting troubles in Harris County.

“The problem is competence or actual election fraud,” said Finch.

As KHOU attempted to get to the bottom of this, it is obvious Bettencourt was hoping to spin this as human error, and that some people were unintentionally left off the voter rolls. While it is true honest mistakes do occur, given the number of people registering in the 3rd largest county in the US, however, it appears Houston/Harris County is not the only one experiencing this problem, but there is mounting evidence demonstrating similar patterns occurring throughout the US.

Not only was Bettencount’s demeanor during his interview a dead give, but the run around Mark Greenblatt received from the Director of Voter Registration & Gov. Liaison, George Hammerlein, in his attempt to get certain information was also telling. In one of the email exchange between Greenblatt and Hammerlein, Greenblatt had to remind Hammerlein in caps that they obligated to release “ALL DOCUMENTS AND DATA” he had requested under the Texas Public Information Act.

Part one of the report, do note Paul Bettencourt’s demeanor as he is being pressed to explain these “mistakes.” Also notice how Bettencourt easily placed blame on a temporary employee who is no longer working there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In part two, Mark Greenblatt exposes the false information Paul Bettencourt gave to the Texas House Elections Committee in the beginning of the year.

Bettencourt’s statement to the 11 News Defenders was similar to one he made nearly a year ago. It was all a part of his testimony before the House Elections Committee in January of 2008.

“We have had a history of illegal voting as well as documented fraud cases in Harris County,” he said then. “What I’m providing to you are 381 absolutely verified and documented cases.”

The hearing was part of a push to strengthen laws that could prohibit voter fraud laws.

“The 381 cases that we have provided to you with this documentation are we believe are ironclad,” he testified.

It turns out those 381 “ironclad” cases were not so ironclad after all. After his testimony, Representative Rafael Anchia discovered that out of Bettencourt’s “381 ironclad cases” only 121 are still under investigation. Adding insult to injury, only one was charged in Harris County in the past eight years.

It gets worst too, it also seems Bettencourt was adding fuel to fire xenophobic fire. He also claimed his office found 315 non-citizens trying to commit voter fraud. However, it turns out that 34 actually had openly disclosed they were not a US citizen, yet, the “County registrar gave those individuals voter cards.” One has to wonder if this was a set up, so the GOP can say “Gotcha!” and drag them out into the public square as proof that “illegals” are trying to commit voter fraud. From part two of the series:

In addition, there were also reportedly 22 non-citizens who Bettencourt testified were able to register and actually vote. But Anchia and his staff found that five of those 22 were actually U.S. citizens. Another member of the 22 had also truthfully disclosed his status as a non-Citizen, and yet Harris County gave him a voter card anyways.

It is funny when they are caught red handed in their bombastic accusation. This was very evident in the interview when Paul Bettencourt lost it and was forced to catch himself and compose himself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh what a tangled web they weave when the GOP practice to deceive.

Truth be told, I am concern when elected officials can easily make alarmist statement such a Bettencourt while nobody holds them accountable for these false claims. If we stand idly by while the right to vote is denied to some “other,” it is our own right that is lost. In the latest poll, Rasmussen found that 50% of Texans surveyed believe voter fraud will occur, but it comes to voter suppression, only 31% of Texans surveyed believe voters will be disenfranchised on election day.

While I applaud Mark Greenblatt for a great job exposing what is taking place in the office of our GOP elected Tax Assessor-Collector, however, this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. I really hope he does a follow up because I have already encountered a person who was questioned during early voting. This person was fortunate enough to be allowed to vote. But will the next person be so lucky?