Ortiz says he will resubmit petition for recount
U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz’s petition for a recount of votes cast in the District 27 race for the U.S. Congress was rejected Wednesday by the state because it didn’t meet all requirements for such a request.
In a letter to Ortiz, Texas Secretary of State Director of Elections Ann McGeehan said he has until Nov. 24 to amend the petition.
A spokesman for Ortiz said the errors had been an oversight and that the petition would be resubmitted.
Ortiz, a Democratic running for re-election to the seat he has held for 27 years, is seeking a recount of election returns that unofficially show him trailing Republican Blake Farenthold by 797 votes, 50,976 to 50,179. Libertarian Ed Mishou received 5,376 votes.
McGeehan notified Ortiz in a letter dated Wednesday that he failed to include all precincts in Nueces County in his request for a recount. She stated that election code requires that “all election precincts within each requested county must be included in the recount.”
If all precincts are included, Ortiz would have to make a deposit of $23,500 for the recount, she said. So far he has deposited $11,500.
Ortiz also failed to note if he was requesting a manual or electronic recount, McGeehan noted.
Ortiz’s communications director, Jose Borjon, said Wednesday that the petition had been prepared by Ortiz’s legal team and that an attorney was in the process of preparing a memo to amend the petition and would also forward the additional funds.
“The money is in the bank,” Borjon said.
Borjon said the errors had been “an oversight.”
Farenthold’s spokesman, Steve Ray, said, “Ortiz didn’t get enough votes on Election Day and he didn’t give them enough money for a recount. It seems he just keeps coming up short.”
“This latest slip-up will further hurt his former constituents. It is time for him to stop this charade so that Blake can get to work for the people of the 27th District,” Ray said.
