NEWS BULLETIN: PROVISIONAL VOTES PUT CHIRINOS UP BY 4; HIGH DRAMA, EMS IN CALLED IN, AND STILL NO RESULTS

By Juan Montoya
In what is fast becoming a story that changes hour by hour, sources tell El Rrun-Rrun that after the 10-member Cameron County Ballots and Resolution board sifted through some 600 provisional ballots, the winner in Place 7 of the Brownsville Independent School District was Jose Hector Chirinos over Linda Gill-Martinez by...four votes.
Before the provisional and military mail-in votes that came in after last Tuesday's election were counted, Gill-Martinez led also by four votes.
As he is wont to do, the Cameron County Elections Administrator Roger Ortiz did not post the new numbers on his site Tuesday night. We don't know what the final outcome of the BISD race is, and neither does the public know what the outcome of at least two other races in the county with a handful of votes difference.
Two other races hinge on the count that the board made before the Tuesday midnight deadline.
Before the provisional-vote count, the Place 7 race for the board of the Brownsville Independent School District between Gill-Martinez and Chirinos stood at 14,709 for Gill-Martinez and 14,705 for Chirinos. The Constable Pct. 1 contest between incumbent Horacio Zamora was at 2,501 votes for him and 2,500 for challenger Pedro "Pete" Delgadillo. The Santa Maria ISD disputed contest between Adolfo Hinojosa and  Juan Jose Morales stood at 314 for Hinojosa and 312 votes for Morales.
Hopefully we will be able to acquire the new results that were reached after the board met and post them for you some time today.
However, we did learn that there was high drama in the counting room last night. After a drawn-out process on what votes to accept, Republican-Party appointed ballot board clerk Norma Tovar, who battles with her weight started exhibiting symptoms of stress and people in the counting room asked Ortiz to call for emergency medical assistance, something Ortiz did not acquiesce to. Instead, another poll watcher in the room called the 911 squads herself and the paramedics showed up to provide her with the necessary assistance.
Of course, when Ms. Tovar was suffering from stress-related illness that was a the result of being cooped up all day in the small counting room without let-up until the late hours of the night, her mother, Maria Luisa, who is also part of the five-person Republican Party appointed board had to assist her. Her brother, Rudy Tovar, another ballot board clerk for the Republicans, was the main counter, was also concerned, and the process stopped.
By then, a poll watcher associated with other candidates for the BISD was outside telling his candidate and others that Chirinos had gone ahead on the count.
This did not sit well with Gill-Martinez who was outside awaiting the results. She wanted to know why she could not get the results when others were telling people outside the room.
After the two Tovar women could not continue, two other Republican Party counters were called to take their place.
Partially as a result of this incident, a final tally was not reached Tuesday night and the resolution board will once again meet this morning to perform the final tally of the votes that will include the provisional ballots.
"All we have are all the sheets piled up but we don't have a final tally," said Ortiz this morning. "I know that if I was running in one of those contested races I would also be anxious to find out what the results were. We have until today to come up with a total."
The BISD is scheduled to canvass the vote and swear in the winners of their district's election. So far, Catalina Presas-Garcia, Minerva Peña and Otis Powers appear to be clear winners, with the possibility of a recount looming in the Chirinos-Gill-Martinez contest.
The delay in the counting and the reported irregularities – ballots placed in yellow plastic bags at Perkins and a number of ballots found at Burns after the rest had been counted – didn't sit well with some BISD administrators.
"We paid about $200,000 for the county to hold these elections and we get this?," asked an incredulous administrator. "When you pay for a Lamborghini, you don't settle for a Volkswagen."
Cameron County and Ortiz may also be facing yet another unexpected complaint as a result of the count.
Apparently, someone forgot to tell the elections office that it must be American with Disabilities Act compliant. It appears that there are no ADA compliant facilities available there in case disabled voters want to use the public office.
After all the problems encountered by this office, this is but one more headache for the county to confront.