Posted on 11/18/2010 5:58:55 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Discrepancy attributed to clerical error
Although discrepancies remain in the manual recount of votes for Cameron County judge, authorities said an investigation into the matter does not suggest any criminal act.
Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos said his office was asked to look into the situation and after taking affidavits and questioning Election Administrator Roger Ortiz and other election staff it appears that no criminal wrongdoing occurred.
“At this point there is no criminal investigation that would affect the voting or that would affect the Elections Department,” Villalobos said Wednesday.
What it boils down to is a “clerical error” that occurred in the tallying of votes by the Elections Department, Villalobos said. “We have been told more than once that the issue is a clerical error and how do we correct that clerical error.”
Ortiz and his staff have indicated that the original paperwork from the recount completed Saturday — which signified a win for Republican Carlos Cascos — had incorrect numbers, Villalobos said. After the results were announced, an election staffer had noticed a discrepancy in the numbers and notified Ortiz, he said.
Now, more than two weeks after the Nov. 2 election, it remains unclear who has been elected to the four-year term of county judge that begins Jan. 1.
Cascos, the incumbent, was informed in writing by Ortiz on Saturday night that he had won. Hours later, Ortiz reportedly told Democrat John Wood that he was the winner.
Ortiz has made no official announcement that Wood has won, however. Ortiz continues to refuse to return telephone calls from The Brownsville Herald seeking clarification on the recount and comment as to what will happen next.
The numbers
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday, Ortiz had announced that the recount showed Cascos with 20,392 votes and Wood with 20,342. Some seven hours later, reports surfaced that a discrepancy had been discovered and Wood had won by five votes, 20,576 to 20,571.
None of the results are official until canvassed returns are accepted by the Cameron County Commissioners Court.
The error in the recount reportedly occurred in the tallying of votes from the Precinct 54 polling place at Burns Elementary School. It has been reported that there were two tally sheets for that precinct, but only one was included in the recount results.
With the election continuing in limbo, the Cameron County Democratic Party continues to push the matter.
“We obviously have not been sitting around doing nothing, we have been researching this,” Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa’s understanding is that since there were affidavits from two people involved in the recount filed with Ortiz’s office stating that a tally sheet from Precinct 54 had been left out of recount totals on Saturday, this would automatically trigger a second recount of that precinct.
He said this is one of Ortiz’s options — “to go back and recount Precinct Poll 54 and amend Saturday night’s report and that resolves the issue. Just file a corrected report. That is a simple solution to the problem.”
Hinojosa said that every vote had been counted in the re-tally that showed Wood up by five votes.
“No matter what anybody says, every vote was counted — every early vote, every mail-in vote, every provisional vote, every single vote,” Hinojosa said.
Villalobos, the district attorney, said he understood from his conversation with Ortiz that Ortiz was not planning to recount Precinct 54 votes, nor would other precincts be recounted, as requested by Republicans.
Villalobos said determining the election result would be in the hands of the Cameron County Commissioners Court. The Commissioners Court is scheduled to meet Friday.
“We are going to advise Mr. Ortiz to submit all the paperwork that he has on this particular matter along with an affidavit indicating the discrepancies,” Villalobos said. “We believe that this is the proper procedure to do and then it is incumbent upon the canvassing authority (the Commissioners Court) to use the power that is invested in them under the Election Code to determine what the numbers are and what they should be.”
The district attorney said it would be “prudent” for both Cascos and Wood — who sit on the Commissioners Court — to recuse themselves from the vote.
“We do believe that the canvassing authority has the ultimate decision and ultimate responsibility…,” Villalobos said.
He added that if the Commissioners Court refuses to accept the results, a higher court could make the decision. If this were to happen, Cascos would remain county judge until the court makes a determination.
Cascos has declined comment at this time.
Frank Morris, the Republican chairman for Cameron County, has also declined to comment.
Texas state Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, assessed the situation, saying: “This is a major crisis in terms of our elections and it shatters faith in people about the process, but I believe that the results are going to be clear.”
Oliveira said it is obvious that the Saturday 8 p.m. count was in error when it reflected fewer votes than had been counted Nov. 2.
“It is clear that the initial report is flawed by several hundred votes and those people need to be counted and we need to expect the final result with everyone being counted,” Oliveira said.
He contacted the Texas Secretary of State’s Office on Monday after people from both campaigns and others from the community asked for his assistance.
He said he was told by the office that it could not issue an opinion or recommendation to Ortiz, but it did provide Ortiz with certain statutes to review while considering the issue.
“I have been in politics here for 28 years and have never seen anything like this. It’s amazing to me,” Oliveira said.
Boy, does that smell to high heaven. All I could think of when I was reading it was “Landslide Lyndon.”
““We have been told more than once that the issue is a clerical error and how do we correct that clerical error.” “
Find the cleric, take away one level, and 35 hit points. Reduce his wisdom by 10percent.
Ping!
Please excuse any duplicate ping.
When I saw the headline, I thought, we’ll know if it was a clerical error or not when we see whether the Democrat wins.
At least they brought it out in public so the voters can see what happened and what is going on. I find that to be honorable.
Thanks for the ping SwinneySwitch.
I’m glad this is out in the open.
Updates appreciated.
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