A visiting judge has overturned the results of the November 2023 Edinburg City Council election, declaring Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano the rightful winner over incumbent David White, myRGV.com reported.
The lawsuit, brought forward by challenger Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano, contested the narrow victory of incumbent David White, alleging widespread irregularities, including illegal assistance to voters and the use of fake addresses in voter registrations.
The central issue in Lozano’s suit involved allegations against ‘politiqueras’, paid campaign workers accused of illegally aiding voters both in-person and through mail-in ballots. Some accusations extended to voters allegedly using fake addresses on their voter registrations.
The court’s findings revealed that these politiqueras assisted numerous voters who did not meet the legal criteria for such help. According to myRGV, citing Texas Election Code, assistance at the polls is strictly reserved for voters who are either illiterate or physically incapable of filling out ballots on their own. This assistance can extend to physically disabled voters eligible for curbside voting.
In his ruling, Senior Judge Jose Manuel Bañales confirmed that several voters received unlawful help filling out their ballots and participated in unauthorized curbside voting. Notably, the judge highlighted instances of individuals voting curbside from a van, despite being physically able to enter the polling place.
After conducting a three-day bench trial, Judge Bañales determined that more than a dozen illegal votes had been cast for incumbent David White, surpassing his narrow victory margin.
Bañales stated in his final judgment, “The Court heard the evidence and arguments of counsel and found that it could ascertain the true outcome of the election, that the number of illegal votes which were cast for Contestee David White exceed Contestee David White’s ten vote margin of victory in said election, that by subtracting the illegal votes from the official total for David White, Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano obtained more votes in said election than David White.”
As a result of this finding, Bañales declared Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano as the winner of the election for City Commissioner Place 4.
“The judge disqualified, I believe, 26 votes that were cast in the Edinburg City Commission (sic) race in November of 2023. And out of those 26, he found that 15 had voted for Mr. White,” Lozano’s attorney, Gilberto Hinojosa, told Dina Arévalo for myRGV.
White, a career law enforcement officer and one-time Edinburg police chief, voiced his disagreement with the trial’s outcome and stated he would be appealing.
Gov. Greg Abbott weighed in on this new development, saying, “Election results overturned in a local race in Texas because of ‘illegally-cast’ votes. Voter fraud is real and must be stopped. Texas will strengthen laws that crack down on illegal voting.”
Election results overturned in a local race in Texas because of ‘illegally-cast’ votes.
Voter fraud is real and must be stopped.
Texas will strengthen laws that crack down on illegal voting.https://t.co/VRhZw7aPSi
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 8, 2024
In related news, in May 2024, The Gateway Pundit reported that a Bexar County visiting judge ordered a new election for the 180th District Court seat in Harris County, Texas. This ruling comes after Republican candidate Tami Pierce narrowly lost to Democrat DaSean Jones by a mere 449 votes in the November 2022 election.
Republican Tami Pierce continues to contest the election results in court, asserting that “improper or illegal votes were counted” and that the election was “riddled with errors.”
The court found that 1,430 illegal votes were cast, making it impossible to ascertain the true winner of the election. Furthermore, an additional 321 votes were incorrectly tallied due to an extended voting hour, a mishap attributed to an official error by the Harris County Elections Administration Office.
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