300 ballots found in District 28 race; Cuellar in lead(Texas)

San Antonio Express-News ^ | 03/30/2004 | Rebeca Rodriguez

[SwinneySwitch]

More than 300 votes were discovered during a Zapata County recount in the District 28 congressional battle, giving Laredo's Henry Cuellar a slight lead over U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez.

The votes apparently came from one of the two early vote boxes, according to officials with the Zapata County Elections Department.

It was unclear this afternoon how large Cuellar's lead is.

The discovery of the missing votes is highly suspicious, according to Rodriguez.

“There's no doubt that there's some fraud going on, some illegal activities,” he said today.

Rodriguez is planning to file a lawsuit contesting the recount results, said his Austin-based attorney Buck Wood.

“I've been doing this for over 30 years and I've never seen 300 or so ballots appear suddenly,” said Wood, a former elections director for the Texas secretary of state's office.“To tell you that I'm suspicious and baffled is an understatement.”

Cuellar officials were not immediately available to comment today.Although Cuellar lives in Webb County, his mother lives in Zapata County.

The recount, which began Friday in Atascosa and Wilson counties, came after a hotly contested race in the battle for the seat, which represents 11 counties stretching from Hays in the north to Zapata in the south. Rodriguez, who led at the beginning of the recount by 145 votes, had increased his margin by five votes after recounts in five of the district's 11 counties.

Officials were conducting a recount in Webb County this afternoon and were scheduled to proceed with Bexar County and Hays County on Wednesday.

rrodriguez@express-news.net

[solo gringo]

Just heard on TV 8 in Laredo Zapata found 304 votes that had not been counted ZERO got about 100 + - and Henry got about 200 + - also they have found about 135 in Web.that had not been counted Henry leads ZERO by about 200+ right now.With bexar and one other county to count.That will be tomorrow .

[Dog Gone]

Even that doesn't sound quite right. Cuellar slaughtered Rodriguez in Zapata County by far more than a 2-1 advantage (assuming they didn't lie on the original vote count). This sounds more and more like they wanted to appear fair, but make sure that Cuellar caught up during the recount by finding new ballots.

I dunno. I'm not down there. But I have no reason whatsoever to believe that the vote counting there is honest.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? So the dems are starting to turn on each other.

How prophetic!

[solo gringo]

I think when they started counting ZERO was leading Henry by 145 + -.Then along came Zapata And Web and freer and the rest is history for now.

[JohnnyZ]

The discovery of the missing votes is highly suspicious, according to Rodriguez. “There's no doubt that there's some fraud going on, some illegal activities,” he said today. "I mean, there's the ballot stuffing I did, and then a couple of county chairmen helped me out, and I'm pretty sure Cuellar did something wrong too."

For the slow children in the audience who ask "Did he really say that?????", the stuff in italics is from the story, the stuff not in italics is my satirical addition.

[Army Air Corps]

It is refreshing to know that the dems do stand for some traditions in our society; namely the fine tradition of Dem election fraud, graft, and corruption.

[wildbill]

RE: exactly 300 votes?

In South Texas, By God, you get what you pay for.