BREAKING: JUDGE ORDERS NEW ELECTION IN PENA-LEAL RACE

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Visiting Judge Joel Johnson – after throwing out 24 votes cast in the Brownsville Independent School District Place 6 runoff election between incumbent Minerva Peña and challenger Marisa F. Leal – ordered Monday that a new election be held to decide the outcome of the race.

Leal, through her attorney Gilberto Hinojosa, had petitioned the court to throw out the Nov. 4, 2020 election results and call for a new election claiming that enough illegal votes were cast in the race that resulted in a 8-vote victory for Peña, who had called for a recount after losing on election day by one vote.

https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2021/01/leal-wants-penas-bisd-win-thrown-out.html

Peña's attorney, former BISD board member Rick Zayas, disputed the challenge.   

Johnson's order means that – unless Peña appeals – the special election will be held within the proscribed time. Johnson's final order has not been entered on the docket.

The lawsuit was filed December 30, within the 30-day period following the December 3, 2020 final and official canvas and certification of the November 4 election for Place 6 of the Board of the Brownsville Independent School District.

Peña, who was seeking a fourth term on the board, filed for a recount after the final tally in the Nov. 3 election showed Leal had won by one vote, 16,535 votes to 16,534.

Peña specially took exception to paragraph 11 of Leal's original motion wherein she alleges “numerous voters casting votes during early vote and on election day were assisted at the time that they voted even though the voters were not eligible for assistance in reading or completing the ballot.” 

Peña requested that Leal specifically provide the names and addresses of the individuals who were not eligible for  assistance and the names and addresses of the individuals who assisted the voter that was not eligible for assistance. 

Peña specially took exception to paragraph 12 of the Leal lawsuit wherein she alleged that “said illegal assistance included encouraging the voter how to vote and/or even pressuring or coercing votes in violation of the Texas Elections code.”

That is not the only challenge facing Peña. 

On October 2021, Peña surrendered to Cameron County Sheriff’s deputies on Class C nepotism charges in a case involving employment of her former daughter-in-law as a teacher at Veterans Memorial Early College High School. 

The case involves allegations that Peña helped her then-daughter-in-law secure the position, a charge that Peña denies. The case is making its way through district court.