Posted on 04/15/2004 6:14:26 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952
Lawmaker wants to be declared winner or a new election
By T.A. Badger
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, April 15, 2004
LAREDO -- U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez on Wednesday filed his much-anticipated lawsuit challenging the Democratic primary recount in District 28, saying there is no reasonable way to explain how more than 400 new votes appeared in two South Texas counties.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare Rodriguez the winner of the primary over Henry Cuellar or to order a new election in the district, which runs in the Interstate 35 corridor from San Marcos to Laredo.
"In some 30 years that I have been an administrator, supervisor or involved in elections, I have never seen this large a change in any county in any election," said Austin lawyer Buck Wood, who is representing Rodriguez.
The lawsuit was filed in Webb County, where Cuellar lives. The five-page filing did not make specific allegations of wrongdoing or name anyone in particular.
Cuellar said he was confident about his victory and that it was won fairly.
"The results of the recount are clear," he said in a statement. "I am confident that the court will acknowledge the voters' decision."
Wood, a veteran of legal battles over elections, said he expects a trial in this case to get under way quickly and be wrapped up within a month.
Rodriguez, of San Antonio, led by 150 votes in the reconfigured district when 419 previously untallied ballots were discovered during the recount in the Cuellar strongholds of Webb and Zapata counties.
Cuellar, who lives in Laredo in Webb County, received the vast majority of those votes to claim a 203-vote triumph.
Rodriguez has alleged wrongdoing in the Webb and Zapata recounts since they were conducted March 30.
Last week in San Antonio, he compared the results with the so-called "Box 13" skullduggery in South Texas that many believe stole the 1948 U.S. Senate election for Lyndon B. Johnson.
In Zapata County, where Cuellar's mother was born, a box containing 304 early-voting ballots was found during the recount. Cuellar, who served as Texas secretary of state under Republican Gov. Rick Perry, received nearly 80 percent of those votes.
In neighboring Webb County, the recount turned up 115 more votes than were cast in the primary. All those excess votes went to Cuellar, as well as another 62 ballots judged during the recount. Rodriguez got no additional votes in Webb.
"It's not logical for one person to get 177 votes and the other person not to get any," Rodriguez said.
In the other nine counties in the district, Cuellar netted one vote in the recount. In Frio County, Rodriguez gained nine votes. Cuellar was certified last week as the winner, subject to the outcome of Rodriguez's legal challenge.
How do you do? My name is sue, sue, sue you for everything you do.
"It's not logical for one person to get 177 votes and the other person not to get any," Rodriguez said.
This is just too funny. You can't make this stuff up.
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