Election count continues

On Wednesday, Cameron County elections officials counted 40 Republican primary ballots that never made it to the county's central count during the March 4 primary election.

Instead, the Precinct 52 ballots had been placed inside an envelope that was mistakenly placed in a supply bag for the Elections Department rather than a box destined for the central count, Elections Administrator Roger Ortiz said.

"It didn't get to central count. It got into the supply bag for some reason. I wish I knew how they did that mixing them in with the supply bags," Ortiz said.

The ballots were "spit out" by the precinct counter at Precinct 52 on March 4 and were placed inside the envelope to be counted later that evening, Ortiz said.

Precinct 52 is located on South Padre Island.

The ballots were found late last week, then locked inside of a vault until it could be determined to which party they pertained.

It took a few days for officials to determine the ownership of the ballots, Ortiz said.

Elections officials had assumed they belonged to the Democratic Party, but after being able to track down the Precinct 52 election judge, officials learned they were wrong.

The Elections Department contacted Republican Party Chairman Frank Morris, County Attorney Richard Burst and the Texas Secretary of State's Office to inform them of what had occurred.

"I think what happened, especially in this election, was everybody was trying to get everything done and turned in and go back to their conventions. A lot of it was done, I guess, kind of in a hurry ... A lot of these little mistakes that didn't have to happen were done," Ortiz said.

Ortiz said he contacted the candidates who would be affected by the count and informed them of Wednesday's ballot count. The candidates affected include sheriff's candidates Joe Cisneros, Hilda Trevino and Rick Herrera.

"Now I'm questioning the integrity of the elections office. I'm wondering how many more ballots were not turned in or will never be turned in," Herrera said by telephone on Wednesday morning. "I'm going to get together with the Ethics Commission to see what can be done about this."

Unofficial results show Cisneros won the Republican primary. He received 2,273 votes to Trevino's 774 and Herrera's 1,103.

Ortiz said all ballots have now been accounted for.

A spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State's Office said the county had contacted them about the ballot box and was informed of the proper procedures to take.

County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said he plans to bring this and other issues before the Elections Commission, but wants to wait until election officials finish with the April 8 run-off election. He also wants to meet with Ortiz to get answers to some of his concerns.

"What if it had been 1,000 ballots? It would have swung the election," Cascos said.

On Tuesday, Brownsville resident and poll watcher Aurelia Miller accused the elections office of voting irregularities including instances of unlocked voting boxes, lost diskettes, questionable volunteers and politiqueras casting votes for the elderly.

Miller sent a letter outlining the allegations to the Texas Secretary of State, the FBI and the state's Ethics Commission.

Additional votes found for the following candidates for county sheriff:

Joe Cisneros - 13

Rick Herrera - 13

Hilda Treviño - 9

*Undervotes - 5

*Voter did not cast ballots in that race