Christopher G. Hollins

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Christopher George Hollins is an American Democratic Party official and personal injury attorney who served as the interim Harris County Clerk and the Chief Elections Officer of Harris County, Texas from May to November 2020.

Education[]

After graduating from Hightower High School in Missouri City, Hollins went on to earn a B.A. from Morehouse College, Phi Beta Kappa, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.[1]

Harris County Clerk[]

On June 1, 2020, Hollins was appointed as interim county clerk of Harris County, Texas by a 3-2, party-line vote of the Harris County Commissioners Court. His predecessor, Diane Trautman, resigned from the position citing ill health.[2][3] At 34 years old, Hollins is the youngest person to have ever held the position and is also the first African American to hold the position.[4][5]

2020 U.S. presidential election[]

See also: 2020 United States presidential election in Texas

Hollins was vocal in opposing Texas governor Greg Abbott's decision to allow only one drop-box per Texas county in the U.S. 2020 presidential election. Harris County, which is larger than the State of Rhode Island and has 2.4 million registered voters, had only one voting drop-box location. Based on Abbott's policy, voters at one end of the county would have had to drive over an hour to reach that box in order to submit their ballot.[6][7] On October 9, 2020, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Pitman issued an injunction blocking Abbott's order limiting the number of ballot drop-off sites to one per county; Pitman wrote that the governor's order placed "older and disabled voters living in Texas's largest and most populous counties must travel further distances to more crowded ballot return centers where they would be at an increased risk of being infected by the coronavirus in order to exercise their right to vote and have it counted" and that voters risked being disenfranchised if the U.S. Postal Service failed to deliver their ballots in time.[8] Days later, however, Pitman's order was reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.[9][10]

Hollins sought to send out applications for postal (mail-in) ballots for the general election to each registered voter to Harris County. This plan was challenged by Republican officials, however, and was blocked by the Supreme Court of Texas in October 2020.[11][12] Other policies instituted by Hollins include expansion of in-person voting locations, the introduction of drive-through voting, developing COVID-19 safety guidelines regarding voting, extending voting hours to include 24-hour voting.[13][14][15][8]

On November 1, 2020, days before Election Day, the Supreme Court of Texas threw out a Republican challenge seeking to invalidate about 127,000 votes cast via the drive-through voting program Hollins implemented.[16] Two days later a federal judge upheld the legitimacy of drive-through votes, rejecting a similar Republican effort to invalidate votes case through this method.[17]

Legal practice[]

Hollins is a Texas Democratic Party official and personal injury attorney.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Attorney Chris Hollins new Harris County Clerk". Highlands Star/Crosby Courier. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  2. ^ Despart, Zach (2020-05-20). "Texas Democratic Party official appointed interim Harris County clerk". HoustonChronicle.com. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  3. ^ Despart, Zach (June 2, 2020). "Hollins confident experience will serve him as interim Harris County Clerk". HoustonChronicle.com.
  4. ^ "Wednesday, September 16, 2020-VICE TV". Viceland.
  5. ^ "The Rachel Maddow Show". MSNBC.
  6. ^ Texas governor being sued over limit on ballot drop boxes - CNN Video, retrieved 2020-10-09
  7. ^ "Texas Governor Limits Ballot Drop-Off Locations, Local Officials Vow To Fight Back". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  8. ^ a b Deliso, Meredith (2020-10-10). "Judge blocks Texas governor's order limiting number of ballot drop-off sites". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-10-10.
  9. ^ Bill Chappell, U.S. Appeals Court Sides With Texas On One-Per-County Ballot Drop-Off, NPR (October 13, 2020).
  10. ^ Josh Gertsein, Appeals court reinstates Texas governor's limit on ballot dropboxes, Politico (October 13, 2020).
  11. ^ Killough, Ashley; Stracqualursi, Veronica. "Texas Supreme Court rules Harris County cannot mail out ballot applications to all registered voters". CNN. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  12. ^ Gershman, Jacob (2020-10-07). "Houston Can't Send Unsolicited Mail-In Ballot Applications, Judges Rule". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  13. ^ Simon, Scott (September 19, 2020). "Texas Supreme Court Blocks Harris County Clerk From Sending Voters Mail-In Ballots". NPR.
  14. ^ Schneider, Andrew (June 15, 2020). "New Harris County Clerk Unveils Voter Safety Initiatives". Houston Public Media.
  15. ^ Zedaker, Hannah (2020-07-23). "Harris County clerk requests early voting extension, pilots drive-thru voting ahead of November election". impact. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  16. ^ McCullough, Jolie (November 1, 2020). "Texas Supreme Court rejects Republican-led effort to throw out nearly 127,000 Harris County votes". Texas Tribune.
  17. ^ Kates, Graham (November 3, 2020). "Federal judge rejects latest attempt to block nearly 127,000 drive-thru votes in Texas". CBS News.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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