Election Count Facing Scrutiny by Texas State Democrat Party: Cuellar Takes 203-Vote Lead

Laredo, TX, Morning Times ^ | 04-02-04 | Cortez, Tricia

[Theodore R.]

Election count facing scrutiny by state party Cuellar takes 203-vote lead

BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer

Roberto Balli, Webb County Democratic Party chairperson, filed an affidavit Thursday asking for a recount of the recount in Webb County, because of electoral irregularities and possible fraud in the congressional race between Ciro Rodriguez and Henry Cuellar.

Balli sent the notarized affidavit to Charles Soechting, chairperson of the Texas Democratic Party in Austin. Soechting is expected to make a decision Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Cuellar claimed victory Thursday over Rodriguez by 203 votes, after all 11 counties completed their recount of ballots cast for the Congressional District 28 race, during the March 9 Democratic primary.

Cuellar had a net gain of two votes in the Thursday recount of Guadalupe and Comal counties, upping his previous 201-vote margin to a 203-vote victory.

Cuellar, who lost the primary by 150 votes, ordered the ballot recount last week. The final tally shows he had a net gain of 353 votes, allowing him to beat Rodriguez by 203 votes.

Back in Cuellar's hometown, Balli said in a Thursday press conference he filed the affidavit because of concerns he had with the 115 extra ballots found during Webb County's Tuesday recount.

"I am concerned with the discrepancy in the ballot total differential," Balli stated, referring to the election night tally versus the recount tally.

All 115 extra ballots went in favor of Cuellar.

Rodriguez gained no votes during the Webb County recount. Cuellar, by contrast, picked up 177 votes-115 from the extra ballots and an additional 62 votes from the "undervote/overvote" category.

This category is reserved for those ballots in which a person either didn't vote in a particular race or voted for more than one candidate in that race.

Elsa Guajardo, who served as recount chairwoman, was responsible for interpreting a person's vote in that category.

"This could have come from votes the machine tabulated inaccurately (on election night)," Balli said at the Thursday press conference.

"An 'honest human' will interpret a person's vote more accurately than a machine when reviewing ballots in the 'under/over' category," Balli said.

In his affidavit, Balli, who was a member of the recount committee, said he believes the ballot tabulation on election night was accurate, but believes that legal votes may not have been counted that night.

"Further, the possibility of fraud cannot be ruled out," Balli stated. "In the case of fraud, illegal votes may have been counted" in the Tuesday recount.

"It is important that a recount (of the recount) be performed so that all legal votes are counted and no illegal votes are counted. The citizens of Webb County deserve that all votes be counted accurately and that all elections are fair to each candidate," Balli stated.

Reached by phone Thursday, both Cuellar and Rodriguez agreed the fight is not over.

"Of course we're happy. We won the recount and we're grateful we won this race. It was a tight race," Cuellar said.

"We still have some steps to go with lawsuits (Rodriguez intends to file) and re-re-re-recounts," he joked.

As for Rodriguez, he is not ready to throw in the towel yet.

"This is not the end of it. If he's claiming victory, he's counting his eggs before they hatch," Rodriguez said.

"I was leading by 150 votes and was told that 10 to 15 votes, at most, would change during the recount. But in Zapata, you find 300 new votes? That percentage is pretty high. That doesn't happen. That's not logical or explainable," Rodriguez said.

"Then you go to Webb County, and you have 115 new ballots, even though the machine had counted the same number of ballots three times before. Then, you have a situation where (Cuellar) picked up 62 additional votes from people who cast a vote in those so called no votes. There is no doubt, this is extremely irregular," Rodriguez said.

He stressed this is "not a reflection of the people from Laredo. It only takes 1 to 2 people to do this. We need to make sure the integrity of the entire vote of the 28th Congressional District is taken into consideration. This is tainted."

Cuellar, however, criticized Rodriguez for his remarks.

"I resent the fact that he's being negative. That he's saying there are illegal activities and fraud. I resent that. A congressman should be held at a higher level," Cuellar retorted.

"He's making these allegations without basis of fact. He's accusing the people of Webb County and Zapata of doing something wrong. What's amazing is that Ciro had his attorneys present, his congressional chief of staff, poll watchers and family members present. They were there (at the recount)," Cuellar said.

"The boxes were transported under DPS (Texas Department of Public Safety) security. They were impounded. At the recount, there were eight tables, with three people per table. People from my camp and people from his camp were present at all times. The ballots were counted in front of both parties, and that's what the purpose of a recount is," he added.

(Staff writer Tricia Cortez can be reached at 728-2568 or tricia@lmtonline.com.)

04/02/04

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[Theodore R.]

How could one interpret an "undervote" in regard to a congressional primary? If the contest was skipped, wouldn't it mean that the voter liked both candidates or disliked both candidates?

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[TheBigB]

Logic does not apply to the Democratic Party. Please report to the nearest "reeducation" camp. :^)

[ThanhPhero]

Looks like the Democrats are preparing for November.

[theDentist]

I've read this twice and still can't figure out who (Ciro Rodriguez or Henry Cuellar) is the Dem and who is the 'Pubbie.

[VRWCmember]

Rodriguez gained no votes during the Webb County recount. Cuellar, by contrast, picked up 177 votes-115 from the extra ballots and an additional 62 votes from the "undervote/overvote" category.

When 115 extra ballots show up, and one candidate picks up all 115 votes and then picks up an additional 62 votes from the "undervote/overvote" group, and the other candidate picks up NO additional votes, then FRAUD is almost the only reasonable conclusion. A 177 vote change in one county, when the total of all the areas represented was only 3000 votes, simply does not occur in a legitimate recount.

[Gracey]

They're both Dems. This is Primary season. General election is in November during Presidental election.

[Theodore R.]

NO, this is a Democrat primary, the real contest in Democrat District 28. There were only the two candidates.

[theDentist]

Oh. Thanks.

Nice to see they're warming up for the real thing....

[dpwiener]

When 115 extra ballots show up, and one candidate picks up all 115 votes and then picks up an additional 62 votes from the "undervote/overvote" group, and the other candidate picks up NO additional votes, then FRAUD is almost the only reasonable conclusion. A 177 vote change in one county, when the total of all the areas represented was only 3000 votes, simply does not occur in a legitimate recount.

You nailed it. Rodriguez has been screwed big time. The problem is, how do you prove it? This deserves a full-scale FBI investigation leading to multiple indictments.

But coming from Lyndon Johnson territory, it's more likely that nothing will happen and the election will be successfully stolen.

[Tacis]

Don't you just hate when two lying sleazy scumbag democrats accuse each other of being, well, lying sleazy scumbag democrats, and both are correct. Take notes; the sleazier of the two will try to work his dishonesty against a good guy in November.

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

Rats turning on each other. It's funny in a primary, but it is also sad. Election fraud meets election fraud. This is the same part of the state that produced "Landslide" Lyndon Johnson's margin for US Senate in 1948, when the Duval County voters had 100%+ turnout and signed the voter rolls in alphabetical order. My mom is from this part of the state and recalls that, when she was a child, the Texas Rangers were often called out for election day to guard against funny business. Her county had a whopping 18 votes cast in the Republican Primary last month. Zapata County had 21. Everyone else votes in the Dem primary, the only one with any local candidates running.

Anyway, two possibilities that I see here (both could be true also). First, Rodriguez's allies may have tried to hide some votes in Webb and Zapata prior to the recounts. Second, and more likely since the recount added so many net votes to Cuellar, is that Cuellar's allies added votes in these two places between the election and the recount. The Webb County change (for a large-ish county) is suspicious, but the Zapata change is ridiculous given the size of the county. Rodriguez, the pro-abortion Catholic incumbent who is chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I think is the less fraudulent party here.

[ravingnutter]

Second, and more likely since the recount added so many net votes to Cuellar, is that Cuellar's allies added votes in these two places between the election and the recount.

Yes...that IS more likely considering Cuellar was born in Zapata Co. and his mother still lives there and he lives in Webb Co. Coincidence?

[upchuck]

I've read through the article twice and apparently no electronic voting machines were used. And that's a GOOD thing!

[cinFLA]

You nailed it. Rodriguez has been screwed big time.

It's not the first time ballots have been "misplaced". Maybe Cuellar was screwed before the recount.

[Theodore R.]

But coming from Lyndon Johnson territory, it's more likely that nothing will happen and the election will be successfully stolen.


Ironically though, the people in South TX have more "faith" in the "democratic process" than just about any Americans elsewhere.

[Tex_GOP_Cruz]

Yes...that IS more likely considering Cuellar was born in Zapata Co. and his mother still lives there and he lives in Webb Co. Coincidence?

Thanks for that fact. Sure looks suspicious, especially when one considers how large proportionally 177 or 300 votes is in either Webb or Zapata Counties. The following chart comes from the Texas Secretary of State's webpage and reflects the count PRIOR to any recounts. It will be interesting to see how this changes:

...	Henry	Ciro D.	...	...	...
...	Cuellar	Rodriguez	Total	Total	...
County	DEM	DEM	Votes	Voters	TurnOut
ALL COUNTIES	24,218	24,363	48,581	1,214,978	3.99%
ATASCOSA	1,144	1,944	3,088	23,980	12.87%
BEXAR	2,738	10,828	13,566	859,499	1.57%
COMAL	251	661	912	60,760	1.50%
FRIO	1,715	2,000	3,715	10,076	36.86%
GUADALUPE	584	1,574	2,158	60,942	3.54%
HAYS	399	725	1,124	71,686	1.56%
LASALLE	1,106	834	1,940	4,344	44.65%
MCMULLEN	71	47	118	678	17.40%
WEBB	12,717	2,431	15,148	93,602	16.18%
WILSON	1,374	2,531	3,905	22,763	17.15%
ZAPATA	2,119	788	2,907	6,648	43.72%

Here is a statement on the Zapata reports also from Secretary of State Geoff Connor's website, from March 10:

"I am extremely concerned and disappointed by the reporting of election results in Zapata County. My office made repeated requests for a timely processing of election returns and found local officials unresponsive. While other counties experienced some difficulties with equipment and their vote counts, they were still responsive to our requests for information.

Throughout this process, my office remained in contact not only with local officials but with the Attorney General's Office.

Of paramount concern is that election results are reported accurately, completely and in a timely fashion so as to ensure confidence in the integrity of our elections."

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/about/newsreleases/2004/03102004.shtml

------------

Here is a more recent release (April 1) from the SoS about the recounts:

"The Secretary of State's Office continues to closely monitor the situation in the Congressional District 28 recount. Of paramount concern is that the recount is conducted accurately and that the proper process and procedures are followed. Officials in Congressional District 28 must work to ensure confidence in the integrity of the election process and the election results. While this is a political party's primary election, the Secretary of State, as the state's Chief Elections Officer, advises on questions of Election Law and will refer any formal complaints and alleged irregularities to the Attorney General's Office for criminal investigation."

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/about/newsreleases/2004/04012004.shtml

I think we will be hearing more about this in coming days. The fact that "criminal" is used in the press release should indicate that the SoS is serious about this. Please ping me if either of you hears anything new.

[Gracey]

Henry Cuellar used to be our TExas Secretary of State under Republicans. The Secretary of State is in charge of State Elections. Figure that out.

[Edmund Burke]

Is Duval County still governed by a Duke?

[Enduring Freedom]

Hilarious!