Posted on 05/08/2004 10:03:23 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
LAREDO — Claiming victory as he has for over a month, Henry Cuellar saw his Democratic primary lead over incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez shrink to 58 votes Friday after a court-ordered recount of more than 15,000 disputed Webb County ballots.
“Bottom line is, the outcome has not changed and I'm looking forward to getting ready for the November election,” Cuellar said as a handful of supporters cheered on the 28th Congressional District Democratic nominee at the Webb County Justice Center.
But Rodriguez's attorneys vowed to continue pressing forward with a lawsuit challenging the outcome of the race, saying that the shifting vote totals over two recounts only strengthened their case about the curious nature of the election results.
Following an earlier recount that erased a slim election-day victory for Rodriguez, Cuellar went into this week’s ballot-counting exercise 203 votes ahead of the incumbent. That cushion dwindled Friday to 58 votes out of the more than 48,000 votes cast in the 11-county, 28th Congressional District.
“I have a much more triable case,” said Rodriguez's attorney Buck Wood. “The difference between having to prove (irregularities with) 203 votes and having to prove less than a hundred is enormous.”
Wood said he plans to file an amended lawsuit Tuesday, when a trial involving the election contest was already slated to start in Laredo's 341st District Court, claiming that some Webb County ballots may have been altered.
During the recount, both sides had document experts examine hundreds of ballots for any signs of obvious tampering. Although Wood did not specify, he said he believes his expert can help the case.
“We're glad we hired him,” Wood said.
Wood earlier alleged that hundreds of Webb County voters may have cast illegal ballots in the race. That issue was thrown out earlier this week by visiting District Court Judge Joe Hart of Austin, but Wood plans to appeal that matter to the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio late next week.
Rodriguez said he was pleased overall with the result of the recount, which he called “better than I expected.”
“We felt that there was a pretty big difference in Webb County (in the first recount) and that was the case,” he said. “We also have some other questionable votes that we want to look at.”
He added that he doesn't think he is hurting his political career by pursuing the challenge.
“I really feel that we're doing the right thing,” he said. “Bad elections hurt all of us as a whole.”
The recount is the latest twist in a bitter battle between Rodriguez and Cuellar, who once worked together in the Texas House of Representatives. Rodriguez won the March 9 Democratic primary by 145 votes, but saw that lead evaporate into a 203-vote deficit when Cuellar called for a manual district-wide recount.
That recount also raised eyebrows because 115 more votes were counted than were cast on election day. Speculation Friday was that the additional votes resulted from some ballots being counted twice.
Shortly after that recount, Rodriguez filed a lawsuit contesting the results. Hart ordered a second Webb County recount on Thursday, which is costing Rodriguez about $2,500.
Friday, Cuellar called on Rodriguez to give up the struggle.
“I believe the people are tried of this process,” he said in an open admonition to Rodriguez. “There is a time to stop, there is a time to step back. Please stop this.”
Wood said there is no need to give up the legal fight. Election lawsuits, he said, operate on an expedited schedule, giving him plenty of time to make his case.
“Time is not a problem,” he said. “It's not like it's the (November) general election where someone has to be sworn in in January.”
This week's second recount began at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning and did not finish until about 6 p.m. Friday evening.
Recount judge Armando Lopez said the process took much longer than the original recount because both candidates requested that the ballots be sorted and counted by various categories. Both camps also requested photocopies of certain ballots, which also slowed down the process.
Eight teams of three people each began sorting and counting the ballots as poll watchers watched over their shoulders.
Lopez said he believes Friday's recount is accurate.
rrodriguez@express-news.net
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