Yep! All I have to do is look at the Red/Blue map from past elections,
look at Texas and see where the voter fraud in Texas is!
Posted on 01/03/2005 4:21:01 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
ALICE — The rich tradition of election hanky-panky is alive and well in South Texas, according to Eric Opiela, who, with his recent loss in a state representative race, counts himself as its latest victim.
But to those who oversee elections here, the ghosts of the legendary "Duke of Duval" George Parr and the crooked politics of years past have been exorcised.
Opiela, a Republican lawyer from Karnes City, lost the District 35 race on Nov. 2 to Yvonne Gonzalez-Toureilles of Alice by about 835 votes out of more than 45,000 cast.
Although he carried five of the district's seven counties, Opiela lost by almost 5,000 votes in Jim Wells County, Gonzalez-Toureilles' home turf. He also lost narrowly in Bee County.
A recount paid for by Opiela left him no better off.
"I think he just can't face the fact that he lost, and his best chance was with Bush running because that gave him a lot of coattails," Jim Wells County Clerk Ruben Sandoval said.
"I'm running the most legal election I can here and, to me, the recount proves it. We were only off by 11 votes," Sandoval said.
But even after losing by 849 votes in the recount, Opiela did not concede, becoming one of three Republican Texas House candidates who filed November election challenges, claiming victory was stolen from them by illegal votes and trickery.
"We have gathered a lot of data to prove up about 1,760 fraudulent ballots were cast in Bee and Jim Wells counties in this race," said Opiela, 26, who two years ago lost in the Republican primary for the same House seat.
Among the accusations in Opiela's election contest suit are that part-time workers known in South Texas as politiqueras hired by Gonzalez-Toureilles illegally manipulated the mail-in votes of hundreds of people.
Election challenges also were filed by Talmadge Heflin, R-Houston, an Austin institution who lost by 33 votes to Democratic newcomer Hubert Vo; and by Jack Stick, R-Austin, who was beaten by Democrat Mark Strama by more than 500 votes.
As a 14-term incumbent and close ally of House Speaker Tom Craddick, Heflin was one of the House's most powerful members until Vo dislodged him.
Rep. Will Hartnett, appointed by Craddick as a "master of discovery," is gathering evidence on all three cases. Sometime late next month the Dallas Republican is to forward his recommendations to a House committee to review the challenges.
The nine-member panel can accept or ignore the master's recommendations, but unless the challengers drop their bids, it will ultimately refer all three cases to the full House.
The Republican-controlled House then will vote on each challenge, to either let the November results stand, seat the Republican loser or order a special election.
There have been 10 such challenges since 1942, and only one ended with the election results changed.
Though history is not on his side, Opiela said he is confident that when the smoke clears, he will represent District 35.
"We won the election by at least 110 votes, and while we have enough evidence for the House to seat me outright, the House will probably order a special election," he said.
Gonzalez-Toureilles, however, is acting like she plans to stick around. She has rented a house in Austin, leased office space in Alice, hired a staff and met with local leaders throughout the district.
"I think this is a frivolous lawsuit," she said, adding that Opiela "is asking a Republican-controlled Legislature to overturn the will of the voters in House District 35, using a hypertechnical interpretation of the law. We feel very confident in our chances of success."
Her lawyers said Opiela apparently doesn't understand either election law or the difficulty he faces in proving by "clear and convincing evidence" that more than 850 fraudulent votes were cast for his opponent.
"I think he's got an absolutely insurmountable burden ahead of him because of the sheer magnitude of the votes he has to prove are illegal," said one of the attorneys, David Mendez of Austin.
"First he has to convince (the master) that a vote was illegal. Then he has to go find that (voter) and depose them. And where do you think these people are? In nursing homes. In the military. How is he going to find them? It's ridiculous," Mendez said.
Opiela's lawyers, however, said they can prove their case.
Hartnett has vowed to keep politics out of it.
"I will be guided solely by the facts and the law, and not by political party, as has been the precedent with previous election challenges," he said.
But given the partisan divide in Austin and the bitterness of the legislative struggles that exacerbated it last year, some Democrats fear naked power politics will determine the outcomes.
"I don't look at the factual circumstances. I look at the people who are making the decisions," said Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, one of Craddick's harshest critics. "I look at their modus operandi and history, and it is win at any cost."
And though Opiela said he is making his challenge independently, without any input from Craddick or the party leadership, Coleman said he sees a deeper political scheme.
"I believe the Opiela and Stick election challenges were done to give cover for changing the result in the Heflin race," he said.
Jim Wells County itself was named after a regional political boss and has a long history of election fraud, most notoriously with the 1948 Democratic Primary, in which Parr stuffed enough ballots into the infamous Box 13 to send Lyndon B. Johnson to the U.S. Senate.
But if Parr's manipulations put Jim Wells County on the national map of political chicanery, more recent episodes have reinforced its shady image.
A decade ago, county election officials discovered 134 mail-in ballots were sent to two addresses at a low-income apartment in Falfurrias.
However, neither apartment renter was among those asking for the ballots.
Four years ago, the FBI was called to investigate claims that people were being paid up to $100 to vote for a candidate running for Jim Wells County sheriff. A dozen other people reportedly were offered bribes.
Some consider the culture of crooked politics to be unshakable.
It is widely believed Terry Canales, who was removed as state district judge last year by the state Judicial Conduct Commission over allegations of sexual misbehavior, used the probation department as a political base.
Last year, Lorenzo Moncevais, former head of adult probation, was indicted on two charges — which were later dismissed — of using his office to pressure employees to do political chores.
But according to the current Democratic Party leader, Guadalupe Martinez, crooked elections ended when Canales was toppled as political boss.
"Vote fraud was done back at that time, but no one would dare do it if you were not with the judge, because he would put you in jail," said Martinez, a local dentist.
"And in most previous elections here, the politiqueras violated people's right to vote in secrecy, but in this election it didn't happen. And as long as I am party chairman, it won't," said Martinez, who fought and won an election contest against the Canales machine several years back.
The case went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.
Martinez scoffed at Opiela's claims that he was cheated, noting Opiela did better with the mail-in balloting than he did on Election Day.
"His theory is that Bush did well, so he should have done the same," Martinez said.
"But if the master throws the election out, it will turn out the same way. Actually, it will turn out better for Gonzalez-Toureilles because Bush won't be on the ballot."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- jmaccormack@express-news.net
Sounds like you're talking about demonrats, Garnet!
The employee objected said he was already registered in the county where he lived. The District Clerk said, "just sign it."
To his credit, my employee refused.
Ping. . .
Ping. . .
Voter fraud is the exclusive domain of the Democrat party.
Hankey-Pankey Ping!
If I wanted to make sure my party always won, I would run as the opposition party candidate and then spend thousand$$ - jump up and down - look like a raging madman and embarass the entire party with idiocy.
Looks like this is a RINO for sure - and the democrats have this area locked up!
Yep! All I have to do is look at the Red/Blue map from past elections,
look at Texas and see where the voter fraud in Texas is!
The past taints Dist. 35 dispute (Texas)Excerpt:ALICE — The rich tradition of election hanky-panky is alive and well in South Texas, according to Eric Opiela, who, with his recent loss in a state representative race, counts himself as its latest victim.
But to those who oversee elections here, the ghosts of the legendary "Duke of Duval" George Parr and the crooked politics of years past have been exorcised.
Opiela, a Republican lawyer from Karnes City, lost the District 35 race on Nov. 2 to Yvonne Gonzalez-Toureilles of Alice by about 835 votes out of more than 45,000 cast.
Although he carried five of the district's seven counties, Opiela lost by almost 5,000 votes in Jim Wells County, Gonzalez-Toureilles' home turf. He also lost narrowly in Bee County.
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!
bump
How many illegal demonrat votes were cast for Vo in blue Travis county?
Let's see, now.
Which party in Texas has sent a majority of its senators to neighboring states to avoid the prospect of a quorum so they wouldn't have to lose a vote?
Which party is noted for bringing dead voters to polling places on election day?
Which party is noted for committing blatant election fraud?
Which party is noted for lying, deceiving and masquerading as the other party in order to get elected?
Which party is noted for its naked need for power?
Which party is noted for pushing its socialist agenda, homosexuality, abortion "rights", exploiting minorities, tax and spend policies, vote buying, race baiting, hate America politics?
I find it VERY hard to believe that the Republican candidate (Olieta?) lost fair and square.
| ... | Eric | Yvonne Gonzalez | ... | ... | ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ... | Opiela | Toureilles | Total | Total | ... |
| County | REP | DEM | Votes | Voters | TurnOut |
| ALL COUNTIES | 22,323 | 23,158 | 45,481 | 90,380 | 50.32% |
| ATASCOSA | 6,622 | 5,074 | 11,696 | 24,912 | 46.94% |
| BEE | 4,315 | 4,842 | 9,157 | 16,513 | 55.45% |
| GOLIAD | 1,925 | 1,401 | 3,326 | 5,490 | 60.58% |
| JIM WELLS | 3,683 | 8,608 | 12,291 | 26,473 | 46.42% |
| KARNES | 2,825 | 1,731 | 4,556 | 8,923 | 51.05% |
| LIVE OAK | 2,628 | 1,356 | 3,984 | 7,381 | 53.97% |
| MCMULLEN | 325 | 146 | 471 | 688 | 68.45% |
Wow, vote fraud in South Texas? Who'd a thunk it?
You've got'em pretty well wired. Also, what the 'Rats mean when they say that "every vote should be counted" is count every vote be it a legal one or not because we 'Rats are sure going to generate a lot of illegal ones and they must be counted, too. It's the only way they can win.
Sorry. How many illegal demonrat votes were cast for Vo in red Harris county?
True - could be, but in this case it seems they have all avenues sealed up real tight and the only recourse would be BEFORE and DURING the election rather than after the fact.
I would put more energy into monitoring the next registration/voting methods. But then, I don;t live down in that area and there may be voter fraud ala LBJ where if you ask questions, you end up in the graveyard voting democrat!
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