A visiting judge has overturned the results of the November 2023 Edinburgh City Council election, declaring Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano the rightful winner over incumbent David White, myRGV.com reports.
The lawsuit, filed by challenger Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano, challenging incumbent David White’s narrow victory, alleges widespread irregularities. These include providing illegal assistance to voters and using false addresses in voter registrations.
The central issue in Lozano’s lawsuit involves allegations against “politiqueras,” paid campaign workers accused of illegally assisting voters in person or through mail-in ballots. Some of the charges also involve voters who allegedly used false addresses on their voter registrations.
The court’s findings revealed that the politicians helped many voters who did not meet legal standards for such help. MyRGV cited Texas Election Code as saying that polling place assistance is strictly reserved for voters who are illiterate or physically unable to fill out their own ballots. This assistance can be extended to voters with physical disabilities who qualify for curbside voting.
In his ruling, Senior Judge José Manuel Bañales confirmed that some voters received illegal help filling out their ballots and participated in unauthorized curbside voting. Notably, the judge highlighted situations where individuals vote curbside from a van despite being able to enter a polling station.
After a three-day bench trial, Judge Bañales determined that incumbent David White had more than a dozen illegal votes, eclipsing his slim margin.
“The court heard the evidence and arguments of the attorneys and concluded that the true result of the election could be established, and that the number of illegal votes cast for contestant David White exceeded ten,” Bañales said in the final ruling. “Vote Difference” By subtracting the illegal votes from David White’s official vote total, Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano received more votes than David White in the said election. “
Based on this discovery, Bañales declared Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano the winner of the 4th City Commissioner election.
“I believe the judge disqualified 26 votes cast in the November 2023 Edinburg City Council (sic) race. Of those 26 votes, he found that 15 were cast for Mr. White,” Lozano’s Attorney Gilberto Hinojosa, told myRGV’s Dina Arévalo.
White, a career law enforcement officer and former Edinburgh police chief, expressed his dissent with the outcome of the trial and said he would appeal.
Governor Greg Abbott weighed in on the new development, saying: “The results of a local election in Texas were overturned due to ‘illegal voting.’ Voter fraud is real, It must be stopped. Texas will strengthen laws against illegal voting.
The results of a local election in Texas were overturned due to “illegal voting.”
Voter fraud is real and must be stopped.
Texas will tighten laws against illegal voting.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 8, 2024
In related news, in May 2024, The Gateway Pundit reported that a visiting judge in Bexar County ordered a re-election for the 180th District Court seat in Harris County, Texas. The ruling comes after Republican candidate Tami Pierce lost the November 2022 election to Democrat DaSean Jones by just 449 votes.
Republican Tammy Pierce continues to challenge the election results in court, claiming “incorrect or illegal votes were counted” and that the election was “riddled with errors.”
The court found that 1,430 votes were illegal and the true winner of the election could not be determined. Additionally, an additional 321 ballots were incorrectly counted due to extended voting hours, an incident attributed to an official error by the Harris County Elections Management Office.
read more:
The election was rigged? Harris County judge orders re-election for 180th District Court seat after controversial 449-vote loss – nearly 1,500 illegal votes cast
