HOUSTON, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Houston election officials say they'll be ready for an upcoming election even though a fire destroyed almost all of the county's electronic voting machines.

The fire in Harris County early Friday destroyed 10,000 pieces of equipment including voting machines and booth controllers that dispense access codes to voters and tabulate results at the end of Election Day, the Houston Chronicle reported.

County Clerk Beverly Kaufman promised to hold a "timely election" on Nov. 2 but said the county may have to run fewer than its planned 739 Election Day polling stations if it cannot find enough machines.

With 1.9 million registered voters who account for nearly 15 percent of the state's electorate, Harris County must rebuild an elections infrastructure just over two months before a gubernatorial election.

Election officials promised they'd be ready.

"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," said Kaufman. "We have a huge obligation here."