District Attorney's Office discusses election crime protocols

HAYS COUNTY — The Hays County Commissioners Court heard a presentation regarding election crime reporting and new protocol at its Feb. 6 meeting.

Jennifer Doinoff, Hays County Elections administrator, began by stating that the elections office previously met with the District Attorney’s Office to discuss creating a task force that would focus on allegations related to election sites or offices.

“[The task force is] to provide a landing spot for these allegations, for this fear, because we know in a presidential election year, passions run high. There may be complaints and allegations and we want to make sure that those are going to the proper people who can review them and decide if they need to go any further than just a response from our office,” said Doinoff.

Currently, Landon Campbell, chief of the misdemeanor division, is the “point person” at the DA’s Office and will handle the new election task force. He emphasized that the creation of this team will hopefully increase voter confidence by knowing that there are dedicated individuals spending time on referrals and complaints.

He stated that there have been instances where individuals go to an officer and ask to make a complaint and the officer does not know the process.

“Agencies within the county should be stepping up to try and take a look at issues that will come up,” said Campbell. “[This will] discuss a proper channel and protocols for the handling of criminal complaints.”

Team members on the task force, the DA’s Office, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, local municipal police departments and constable offices will have increased communication and education prior to an issue occurring. Each office is encouraged to create a dedicated individual to process any election referrals, as well as have a “point person” in the DA’s Office who they can ask questions to, such as: what is happening in this referral; is a crime occurring; and whether it needs to be investigated.

The protocol is as follows:

• Citizen reporting: the elections office and the law enforcement agencies take referrals in and sort them because not everything is a criminal complaint.

• The complaint then goes to the primary local enforcement, where it will be given to the “point person,” who will conduct the appropriate investigation. After, they will communicate with a prosecutor in the DA’s Office to ask if there are other investigations that need to be done.

• Once the investigation is completed, the case will be referred to the DA’s Office as a case review complaint. This is when no one has been arrested, but officers have submitted all the facts to find out if a criminal case needs to go forward.

• The prosecutor will get back to the officer with whether or not it is a case and they will go from there.

“While that sounds like a relatively simple system, it admittedly has not occurred in the past in cases,” said Campbell. “Any time that there are issues, that brings down confidence in our community and brings down local confidence in local government itself. “

“The most fundamental, American thing we can do is have confidence in our election system,” emphasized Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra.

If residents have a complaint or believe that illegal activity is occurring at an election site, email [email protected].

Election Day locations for the Primary Election occurring March 5, 2024, can be found at vote411.org/Texas.