Assclown Alert: Disrupting Kerr County’s elections with County Commissioner Rich Paces

Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Despite copious evidence that the 2020 election wasn’t rigged and that voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare, Republican zealots continue to throw civil servants’ efforts to run smooth and efficient elections into chaos.

In the latest such debacle, Kerr County Republican County Commissioner Rich Paces has led a months-long crusade to pitch out the Texas Hill Country county’s electronic voting systems and replace them with hand counts of ballots, the nonpartisan news site Votebeat reports.

Should it come to be, Paces’ plan would run taxpayers some $250,000, and it’s been enough of a shit show to prompt the resignations of two separate county elections chiefs in as many months, according to Votebeat.

Needless to say, some are not amused — even some from Paces’ own party. Kerr County Republican Party Chair Paul Zohlen told Votebeat that Paces had “single-handedly taken a wrecking ball to one of the finest election departments in the state.”

Zohlen also lamented that the Kerr County clerk is now tasked with assembling a team to impart the departed officials’ years of experience to staffers in time for upcoming elections.

Although a vote to alter the county’s counting process ahead of 2024 failed, Paces was unrepentant and promised to turn up the pressure.

“This was just the first skirmish,” Paces told Votebeat.

Great. We’re sure Kerr County civil servants can’t wait to take note of this assclown’s next move.

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This article appears in Oct 18-30, 2023.