Appeal filed on Precinct 3 election lawsuit dismissal

A day after a judge dismissed a lawsuit requesting a new election for the Democratic nominee for Hidalgo County Precinct 3, outgoing commissioner Jose “Joe” Flores filed an appeal.

The appeal, filed Thursday, asks that visiting Judge Jose Manuel Bañales reconsider his dismissal to hold a trial to contest the results of the March 2020 Democratic Primary in the race for Hidalgo County Precinct 3 commissioner.

In that election, local businessman Everardo “Ever” Villarreal, beat Flores in the primary by 92 votes. Citing more than 1,000 illegal votes, Flores filed the lawsuit after the March Democratic Party primary election and requested that the results be declared void and a new election be held.

As Villarreal has no Republican challenger in the November 2020 general election, he is the commissioner elect.

Bañales ended up dismissing the lawsuit Wednesday after ruling that not enough illegal votes were found to sway the results of the election.

“Obviously we disagree with the judge’s decision,” Flores’ attorney, Orlando Garcia said previously. “We know the voters voted illegally and who those votes were for.”

The appeal requests a bench trial and argues that several erroneous mistakes occurred that affected the court’s initial ruling.

The appeals requests action from the court by Monday, the deadline to file an appeal.