At first we didn't believe that I had a copy of today's Brownsville Herald in my hand.
We had read the exculpatory article (almost half a page long) where Cameron County elections Administrator Chris (the Compu Whiz) Davis was bemoaning the fact that the county did not have state-of-the art gadgetry to help him with election counts and hadn't hired enough counters in anticipation of meeting state requirements that if more than one irregularly marked ballots appeared in one ballot box, all the ballots had to be counted by hand.
Even Don Pedro chimed in to state the obvious:
"County officials say Tuesday's delays were expected," the city editor reported.
"That makes it worse," the don (Pedro) rebutted. "If they expect problems, they have time to bring in more counters to get it done faster."
As a result, the final election-day results (not canvassed) came in close to 5 a.m. on Wednesday.
Then came the Texas Secretary of State ruling that since his father-in-law was on the ballot for a seat on the Brownsville Independent School District board of trustees, he could not be the station count or cumulative count supervisor because of the obvious appearance of conflict of interest. This had been pointed out repeatedly by BISD board candidates to Davis and to county administrators without any resolution.
So when Davis – at the 11th hour as mail-in ballots were being examined by the early ballot board on the Monday before the Tuesday election – asked that they meet to appoint someone else as count supervisor – he did it because he had no justification to remain in that position anymore.
That was not the only bone that BISD candidates – other than his father-in-law "Coach" Joe Rodriguez – had to pick with Davis. They also objected that in spite of the fact that the BISD had paid the county some $95,000 to run their election, Davis, instead of printing separate ballots for the BISD elections, opted to place the district's ballots on the rear of the same sheet.
Davis told the local daily that he had sent the ballot to the BISD administration and that it was satisfactory to them. He never asked the candidates, however. Some 7,000 Republican voters, and about 10,000 Democrats, voted straight ticket. When you vote straight ticket, you assume that you have done your civic duty – and we would wager that a large number of people doid not turn the page to vote in the non-partisan races or the state propositions which are not straight-ticket votes.
The effect on the BISD elections has already triggered a call for the district to return to holding its elections in March and running it themselves, as the district did some two years ago before it joined the other entities in the regular November cycle.
Then came the Night of the Long Count on Tuesday. The Herald, to its credit, stated:
"Cameron County patience needs to be just as short – not because of any umbrage against those who probably do their best to handle such an important job, but because that job is so important. It's so important that their best might not be good enough...
"The integrity of our elections is of supreme importance. Too many people have died to preserve our right to vote. Such sacrifices are too great for us to screw them up as often as we have."
I had to turn the pages to make sure I was reading the editorial pages of the Brownsville Herald.
All I could say when I saw I was was a hearty "Amen!"
6 comments:
The Herald editorial today bemoans the 10 hour delay to count the votes....but when voters cannot fill out the ballot properly and all "challenged" ballots must be hand counted and certified...it takes time. If the citizens are so "challenged" that they can't follow simple instructions for filling out the ballot....then possibly they shouldn't vote or we must accept the delay. Why is it so difficult to fill in the little oval on the ballot??
I, for one, do not think spending a million dollars for new technology is worth it....just to make it easier for "challenged" people to vote. And, the Herald didn't give the BISD winners until today....two days late.
The Herald probably wouldn't have had the results on Wed. morning, even if the results were earlier. The Brownsville Herald sucks and, since they are always late with the news, why criticize the elections office for doing being late once every two years, when the Herald is late giving us news everyday.
Disagree. The Herald doesn't like the delay. Big deal. They go to press before most 8- year-olds go to bed. You've heard of the 24 hour news cycle. The Herald is on a 24 hour news delay. Every day. Nothing new here.
I guess the truth hurts when Chris Davis admits that the county is not up to date in equipment. To me as a continued voter, I'm glad that it was done right as designated by law. Now I wonder how that DWTS idiot, Roger Ortiz did it? Maybe that explains why so many Democrats always won in this county. I know, I know, predominantly Democrat but Carlos Cascos did win. So, hmmmm? It just sounds like we got the right guy to head the Elections Department.
Not so easy, is it Mr. Davis?
davis first real election. last year he had the constitutional election. takes time too!!!!! if county needs updated equipment to count ballots then the county needs to move forward on this. have another big election coming up in 2 years.
davis doing a good job . his real election . he got in last year and that election was the constitutional election when nobody really goes out and votes. takes time too. it would be good to have new equipment to count the ballots instead of doing it by hand.
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