We have complained here before about the sad state in Cameron County when it comes to participation in local elections.
This last Democratic Party primary turnout was no exception.
After all was said and done, candidates overspent trying to get voters to go the polls, and campaign signs dotted the landscape, the Cameron County Elections Department reported that a whopping 10.17 percent of the county's 181,534 registered voters – or 18,457 – cast ballots.
By contrast, neighboring Hidalgo County has 309,302 registered voters and 47,350 – or 15.31 percent cast their votes, a voter turnout of only 15.31 percent.
About the only encouraging number that emerged from this primary's voting was the fact that there were only 99 mail-in ballots cast in county races.If this is a signal that the fraudulent use of mail-in votes that have in the past catapulted certain candidates over the top of their opponents who did not pay politiqueras or politiqueros to harvest them, it is the silver lining of an otherwise dark cloud in our electoral system.
For the past two years, state and federal law enforcement investigators have been busy tracking down the perpetrators of these illegal mail-in votes. They did not exactly come willingly, being prodded by the footwork done by the Citizens Against Voting Abuse, individual candidates such as Yolanda Begum and like minded people in the community who determined that the vote-harvesting machines had to be stopped.
Two politiqueras who had participated in the vote harvesting in the last four years were indicted, and one is still awaiting sentencing in federal court. However, no candidates who might have been paying these operatives has been charged with nay voting offense.
Regardless of the outcome of the ongoing probe, the investigation has apparently had a chilling effect on the practice of abusing that form of voting as can be determined from the results cited above.
Whether the fear of prosecution will keep the vote harvesters from engaging in that type of conduct again will be seen in the May 27 runoff.
AS CAVA and others say, if we want to neutralize the fraud that is committed by these operatives, the best safeguard is encouraging a higher voter turnout.
9 comments:
Convergys closes its doors Jan. 21 and the Herald reports it March 11.
Can we even call it democracy when only 10 --- 15 percent vote ?
One day we will wake-up with the Gestapo knocking on our Doors !!!!!!!! What happened to us?
With the heat on the illegal vote harvesters, we now get a real view of how many people actually give a shit about our elections.
Mexicans aren't into voting. You'd need to give them free cheese to make them line up.
Aren't these numbers the norm during primaries? Unless I'm mistaken, the Democratic Primary turnout in 2012 was slightly above 9%.
The "norm" is unacceptable. Get off your lazy, apathetic asses people. Vote.
6:48AM please crawl back under your rock and shut your racist trap.
Joaquin (Roman),
Juan's landing that in general voter interest is low. The politiqueras were inflating the number now its lower.
Rigoberto
Juan no pos wow, only 99 mail in votes? wow is that a new low record? no wonder Ernie and Erin didnt make it to the runoffs and joe rivera didnt win outright. Just goes to show you how all these years the democRAT party has always manipulated the final results. Not this time MF's it didnt work, good job to all who were vigilant and watching these elections like Hawks, we really needed and apreciate that. Keep up the Good Work. MS
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