PORT, TSC CHANGE RULES OF THE GAME AT LAST MOMENT

By Juan Montoya
A funny thing happened on the way to an election.
As we have learned, the elections this year to fill the positions and the Brownsville Navigation District and the Texas Southmost College May 10 will overlap with the runoff elections for Cameron County.
It's bad enough that the runoff elections for the various county positions (county judge, commissioners, justice of the peace) will be held May 27, nearly three months after the March 4 primary, but the TSC and Port races will be held in the interim, on May 10.
If that wasn't confusing enough for the average voter who by now may be experienced election fatigue, early voting in the Port and TSC races will begin April 28 through May 6 and end on election day May 10, a Saturday.
Then, just nine days days later, on May 19, early voting begins for the county races and ends the 27th, to be followed by the election May 27, a Tuesday.
But there's more.

This year the Port and TSC will not use the Cameron County Elections Office to hold their districts' elections. Instead, they will hire an outside firm (from Hawaii, we hear) to conduct them.
When candidates went to register to run at the Port, elections officer Debbie Duke gave them a list of election day and early voting day polling places. (Click on graphic to enlarge)
As we know, former county commissioner John Wood is facing off political newcomer Estevan "Steve" Guerra for Position 2, to replace Martin Arambula who left the position to run unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party nomination for county judge.
And on the other race, Carlos Masso, the incumbent, is facing Henry Najera and Joe Wallace Garcia for Position 4.
Now, if you will notice the list of early voting polling places on the bottom of the page, you will notice that the Cameron County Elections Office is not listed among them. Neither is Cameron Park, we might add. Granted that the main elections office has traditionally been an early voting place when the county ran the elections, but since the county is not conducting the election, the company that will run it did not include that site.
It didn't take long for someone (we hear it was Pct. 1 commissioner Sofia Benavides) to demand that the main county elections office be included among the early voting places. That, in turn, led to hurried phone calls and protests with TSC and the Port to include the site.
Now, what the county has to do with these distinctly separate and independent districts and the way they want to conduct an election has yet to be explained.
Nonetheless, apparently the squeaky wheel got the grease and the Port and TSC candidates were called and told that the rules had changed and that the main county elections office had become an early voting site as a result of the calls from the commissioners court,
That, in turn, led supporters of Wood's opponent Guerra to protest that the move had been done to favor the former county commissioner who stood to gain more votes from county workers because of his term in office as their boss and his name identification that was enhanced as a result of his run for county judge against Carlos Cascos four years ago.
Their opponents, in turn, say that they are only adhering to tradition and history which had the main office serve as an early voting place.
On the other hand, the county – which had historically used their main elections office when they ran the elections – will not be running this one, so history went out the window. We don't know if the additional polling place will require a vote from either or both boards at TSC and the Port, but it would seem that a change of that nature would. If they are going to do it, they better do it soon.
Guerra's supporters are crying foul over the move that they say will favor Wood. They say all they want is a level playing field without last minute changes in the rules. And they hint at a dark conspiracy between Wood's former colleagues and their allies at the Port and TSC-UTB. Wood's wife Virginia, they say, works at UTB. And Eddie Campirano, they add, – a former TSC trustee – is now the Port Director and CEO.
"This is the first time I run for office and all I want is a fair shake without any last-minute tricks," said Guerra at a recent campaign function for TSC trustee Ed Rivera. Why not open Cameron Park or better yet, the polling place near my house to make it fair?"