Women found not guilty in San Juan voting case[Mentally incompetents vote twice in South Texas]

The Monitor ^ | May 20,2006 | James Osborne

[SwinneySwitch]

EDINBURG — An Hidalgo County jury found two San Juan women not guilty on voter fraud charges Friday morning.

Maria Louisa Rodriguez and her daughter of the same name had both voted twice in the May 2005 San Juan city election, but their defense attorney argued they were not mentally competent at the time of the incident.

“They’re not all there, and these politiqueras took advantage of them,” said attorney Jesse Contreras.

“These ladies suffer from a mental illness as we speak, and back then on May 17.”

The mother and daughter were taken to vote on Election Day after already casting ballots during the early voting period by Cindy Rodriguez, the wife of San Juan City Commissioner Bobby Rodriguez, and Vicki Loredo, the wife of former mayor and PSJA school district Assistant Superintendent Robert Loredo.

Both women denied any knowledge that the mother and daughter had already voted, and neither was charged following an investigation by the district attorney’s office.

The wives’ identities were disclosed in a memo last year written by former city secretary Vicki Ramirez, who took the mother and daughter’s ballots curbside, a service offered to the physically disabled. The City Commission fired Ramirez as city secretary this past February, but she still works as an office administrator at City Hall.

The jury took about two and a half hours to come back with a verdict Friday, four days after the trial began in visiting Judge Homer Salinas’ Auxiliary Court A.

District Attorney Rene Guerra said he was disappointed by the verdict.

“It was an open-and-shut case, but the jury said not guilty,” he said.

“The press and the media made such a hoopla about these voter fraud cases, but there’re still so many ways for a jury to let these people go.”

Voter fraud is a third-degree felony which carries a two- to 10-year prison sentence and maximum $10,000 fine. ——— James Osborne covers PSJA and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.

[SwinneySwitch]

“They’re not all there, and these politiqueras took advantage of them,"

South Texas Politics!

[Brilliant]

mentally incompetent voters...


What's new?

[capt. norm]

That's common liberal logic. If you are mentally incompetent, you should vote twice.

Being mentally incompetent is closely related to being a liberal, as we have seen countless times.

[SwinneySwitch]

Politiqueras Ping!

[BenLurkin]

Let me guess: When the poll workers heard that the daughter shared her name with her mother -- they suggested that she vote for herself AND her mother . . . .

[DJ Taylor]

Uhh, are they Democrats or Republicans? </sarc>

[SwinneySwitch]

"... they suggested that she vote for herself AND her mother...."

That would only be if her mother were dead!

[SouthTexas]

Looks like the jury is also imcompetent.

[Ken522]

I certainly hope Maria Louisa Rodriguez and her daughter of the same name , being "not all there," as the attorney said, were stripped of their voting privledges - but in this day and age it's too much to hope for.

[NavySon]

Hmm...I can't tell whether they voted democrat because they were found not guilty, or if they voted Republican because the media made a lot of "hoopla" about it...

[Smokin' Joe]

Looks like the jury is also imcompetent.

Hey! They are entitled to a jury of their peers!

[SouthTexas]

Didn't think of that! :)

[VeniVidiVici]

Sounds like the Mexican political values are creeping north also.

[janetgreen]

Are there any people living in that town who have American names? Every name there was "hispanic".

Shades of Santa Ana, California!

[mtbopfuyn]

Okey dokey, if they're so mentally wacked, how were they able to make competent decisions on what they were actually voting on?

Amazing one can get fired from the city for out and out voter fraud, but then still continue to be employed by it. Of course, in a county that can't see voter fraud in the first place, well...

[freepatriot32]

ping

[traviskicks]

lol





Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[traviskicks]

LOL

[SwinneySwitch]

To be eligible to vote in Texas, you must:
be a U.S. citizen;
be a resident of the county;
be 18 years old (you may register at 17 years and 10 months);
not be a convicted felon (unless a person's sentence is completed, including any probation or parole);
not be declared mentally incapacitated by a court of law;