NEW, IMPROVED ELECTIONS DEPT.; SAME OLD SAME OLD

By Juan Montoya
We were told that with the compromised Roger Ortiz gone from the scene and a new, improved media-savvy director at the Cameron County Elections Department things would be different.
In his days, Ortiz would withdraw into his shell, make soothing noises and weather the storm or criticism with noncommittal responses.
The new boy in town – Chris Davis – in response to the unacceptable delays in getting the voting results to the public, shifts the blame to:
a. precinct judges
b. glitches in the voting machines
c. untrained staff
d. jammed counting mechanisms
e. 2,000 more voters than in 2010 (?)
The local newspaper noted that there were 11,102 total voters in the Democratic primary runoff races this month compared to 9,642 in 2010, the last similar election.
Davis , the master of the understatement, said there were "a few hiccups that delayed Democratic returns until after 11 p.m."
In fact, Channel Five aired a segment of an empty building with the reporter standing in the dark awaiting the final tally after all the candidates had gone. One of those candidates – County Clerk Joe Rivera – sits on the county's elections board that evaluates Davis' performance and had to leave before he knew the final outcome.
In the case of the Leo Lopez-Alex Dominguez race where the outcome was uncertain and hung by a mere 72 votes, it was nail-biting time until near midnight for both candidates and their supporters.
“It did take a long time,” Davis admitted Wednesday, explaining that he felt the delays were largely due to the efforts of poll workers to do things openly.
OK. So for the sake of transparency and doing things neatly, we are back to the same old Ortiz formula of delayed results?
And now we know that the rumors of uncounted votes (yikes! shades of Wood-Cascos debacle under Roger) were true.
Davis admitted that at two polling places the ballots were not counted because the darn machine wouldn’t take them and the presiding election judges sequestered them under seal and brought them in separately. It wasn't until they were brought into the main central counting room at the courthouse that the totals were added to the count.
In Brownsville, a nasty machine ate five votes that delayed the count as well.
 That required the order of a district judge to have the box opening in front of poll watchers, further delaying the count.
“I’d rather finish late if it means getting the count accurate and correct and doing it all transparently and according to law,” Davis said lamely.
It may work out to the elections department advantage if voter apathy remains as it is. Only about 6 percent percent of the registered voters cast their ballots last Tuesday. God forbid if more than 10 percent had. We might still be waiting for results today.
Canvassing is set for June 5 and the provisional ballot board will meet June 3.