An early start to election shenanigans?

I see that Harris County in Texas (including the city of Houston) appears to be making an early run at the title of 'Voter Fraud Capital of the USA' for the 2010 mid-term elections.

First, a Houston non-profit organization allegedly submitted thousands of false and fraudulent voter registration forms, leading to the authorities investigating charges against it.

Next, all the voting machines for the county are destroyed in a mysterious fire.

Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman this morning said she is confident of timely, clean elections in November, even as a fire that destroyed the county's entire inventory of 10,000 electronic voting machines still burned.

. . .

Kaufman hopes to cobble together a collection of voting machines through loans from other counties and replacement equipment from its vendor, she said. All five members of Commissioners Court contacted her this morning to pledge their support in helping her with the resources needed to stage a successful election in which early voting begins in just 52 days, she said.

Kaufman encouraged people to vote early in person or by mail.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we’re going to have a timely election here and that we’re going to take care of the voters," Kaufman said.

Houston Fire Department spokesman Patrick Trahan said arson investigators were at the scene of the fire, but no cause has been determined.

The three-alarm blaze started about 4:15 a.m. at the football field-size warehouse the county uses to store its election equipment. Firefighters extinguished the flames about four hours later.

No injuries were reported.

The county’s voting machines, including eSlate equipment, were stored at the nearly 27,000-square foot facility, county officials said.

There's more at the link.

One problem doesn't necessarily mean much. Two in rapid succession might be coincidence, although I doubt it. I'm waiting for a third problem to arise with voting in Harris County. If it does, I'll take it as pretty conclusive evidence that someone doesn't want an honest election in Houston this year.

Can any readers in the Houston area shed further light on this issue?

Peter