Reprint from the Progress Times - October 26, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

La Joya election voided; Judge orders new election

 

By Jim Brunson
and Kathy Olivarez

Judge Federico Hinojosa declared void the May 12 La Joya ISD school board election and ordered a new election to be held February 16, 2008.
The action was taken Friday, October 19, when Judge Hinojosa, presiding over the 275th District Court, announced that there were so many voting irregularities in the May election that it was impossible to determine a winner.
The court decision was a victory for Domingo "Mingo" Villarreal Jr. and Elma Garza who lost the May election to Team USA candidates Arturo Gonzalez and Esperanza "Espie" Ochoa by a margin of approximately 400 votes.
Edinburg attorney and former Hidalgo County Judge Ramon Garcia presented evidence during the trial of a long list of Texas Election Code violations that he said occurred during the May election.
Ramon presented evidence before the court alleging that, according to election records, 568 illegal votes were found—enough to change the results of the election.
Among the many election irregularities alleged by Garcia in his court brief were the following:
• 315 voters were allowed to vote, even though election workers were unable to determine their eligibility,
• 72 voters were allowed to vote who were not registered to vote in precincts within La Joya ISD,
• 128 voters were allowed to vote who were not registered to vote anywhere in Hidalgo County,
• Five voters illegally voted in the wrong precinct on election day,
• Four voters were improperly allowed to vote when their voter identification number was incorrect,
• Eight voters were improperly allowed to vote during early voting,
• The tally sheets failed to reflect five votes that were counted,
• 25 votes by qualified voters were not counted,
• 38 votes improperly cast by unqualified voters were counted, and
• No official action was taken to appoint several election clerks and officials at Bentsen Elementary and E.B. Reyna Elementary. The court brief filed by Garcia said that, according to testimony, these election clerks "just showed up."
Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Teresa Navarro testified during the court case verifying a number of election code violations uncovered by Garcia. After the trial, when asked if the Elections Office had confirmed all 568 alleged voting violations presented in Garcia’s court brief, Navarro said her office had confirmed some of them but not all.
"They did their own work," Navarro said, adding that her office did find some of the voting irregularities, but the attorney for the contestants spent a lot of time going through voter records and her staff has not had the time to verify all the findings.
Judge’s Ruling
The following is taken from the official court ruling in the case.
"Our system of government depends on free and fair elections.
“I find that the La Joya ISD school board election of May 12, 2007, and specifically the polling places at Bentsen Elementary and E.B. Reyna Elementary was anything but free and fair.”
“I find that the contestants have proven by clear and convincing evidence that illegal votes were counted, that the officials failed to count some legal votes, and that the election officers engaged in fraud, illegal conduct and made mistakes all of which materially affected the outcome of the election.”
“I find that the number of illegal votes is greater than the number of votes necessary to change the outcome of the two places on the ballot.”
“However, I cannot ascertain the true outcome of the election.”
“Therefore, I declare the La Joya ISD school board election of May 12, 2007 to be void.”
“I order the La Joya Independent School District to conduct a new election for school board trustees on February the 16th of 2008.”
“And I’m appointing the Hidalgo County elections administrator, Ms. Teresa Navarro, to administer the new election under this court’s supervision," ruled Judge Hinojosa.
Following the judge’s decision, some questions still linger. Based on the findings of the court in this case, some are asking if indictments will be issued and individuals prosecuted on election law violations. Navarro said it’s up to the district attorney to indict.
"It doesn’t make sense to have a case like this and not proceed," Navarro said.
Navarro added that if the district attorney does not pursue this, the Sheriff’s Department could. The attorney general could also get involved in an investigation of the alleged violations.
District Attorney Rene Guerra was contacted by the Progress Times to see if he planned to pursue prosecution of the election code violations alleged during the court proceedings. Guerra said he had not seen the court documents and was not familiar with the evidence presented, so he could not address that decision at this time. He did say that if sufficient evidence was presented to indict on any felony charges, he would look at that and would likely seek indictments.
He also said anyone can submit information and evidence to the foreperson of the grand jury and seek an indictment through the grand jury.
While the attorney for Gonzalez and Ochoa has said he would appeal the judge’s decision, no appeal had been filed with the District Clerk’s office as of late Wednesday afternoon.
After hearing testimony in the case and so many cases of irregularities, Judge Hinojosa threw out the election results and ordered a new election, saying there were so many irregularities, it was impossible to determine who won.
Navarro said Adam Poncio, the San Antonio attorney with TMTCI law firm who represented Gonzalez and Ochoa, indicated he would be filing a Motion to Stay, which would allow the two to keep their seats on the board until the February election.
Garcia said his clients were opposed to allowing Garza and Ochoa to stay on the board until February. If Poncio filed the Motion to Stay, he would ask for an expedited hearing on the matter so they would be removed pending the outcome of the new election.
Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Teresa Navarro said the judge’s decision was long overdue and could have far reaching effects throughout the county where election fraud is often alleged. She said the judge sent a strong message to Hidalgo County officials on how elections should be conducted.
"I hope this is the beginning of people taking the election process seriously," said Navarro. "The election process is important, but to work people must take it seriously."
The election would be supervised by the Hidalgo County Elections office. Navarro said she will stay in touch with the judge regarding all details of how the election is to be handled including the appointment of judges and election workers.
Navarro said she had certain judges and workers from outside the school district with reputations for handling elections fairly. She will ask them to handle the election and will be supervising them herself. Navarro has used these people before in other elections where there were problems. Each of them has served a long time and is well versed in election law. No one who lives inside the district will be used in the election, Navarro said.
With another board election coming in May, 2008 for members who were not up for election in 2007, Navarro was asked if that election would be a supervised election too.
She said the district would run the election as usual unless the opposition candidates who run against the incumbents request a supervised election. There is a good chance that such a request would be granted, she said.
Rebuttal
The Progress Times attempted to get the trial transcript to check for rebuttal to the accusations made by the attorney for Garza and Villarreal. However it was not ready as of press time.
The paper was able to speak with Efren Garza, a supporter of Team USA candidates Gonzalez and Ochoa who were declared winners of the May election prior to the court hearing. Garza is a former mayor of Penitas and has worked as an election judge.
Garza took exception with several trial findings of the judge. One big exception was that no one appointed Aida Rivas as judge. She is employed as city secretary of Palmview and has served as election judge there for the past 10 years as part of her job, said Garza.
He acknowledges there may not have been an official action naming her as judge but it was a given that she would be a judge because of the many times in previous elections she had served as election judge.
"If it is a county requirement that all election judges and clerks must be officially appointed in meetings, the elections office should have an instrument in place to say that unless there is proof the judges have been officially appointed on file, they cannot serve as judge or a clerk. It should be the responsibility of the elections office to see that the paperwork on all judges and clerks is in order before the election takes place.”
He also questioned the phone calls that Attorney Ramon Garcia said took place between Rivas and other members of the Team USA party. "There was no evidence presented that any of the calls showed collusion between the judge and Team USA to keep people from voting." And there was no testimony by anyone who heard Rivas reporting to anyone about how the vote was going while they were voting.

Garza said there were no pictures of Rivas or the election clerks wearing Team USA T-shirts in the polling place. "Everyone knows it is illegal to have political signs or any campaigning going on inside a polling place."
Garza also took exception to the idea that some of the addresses were not legal for those listed as illegal voters. He said his own address was listed as "seven miles west of Mission." Although residents of Penitas have had street addresses now for several years and those addresses have been submitted to the Hidalgo County Elections Clerk’s office, those changes have not yet been reflected on the voter’s registration cards.
Some of the voters who were referred to by Attorney Garcia, have been living in the district and voting in the district for as long as 35 years, Garza said.