Following complaints from 12 Democratic Party candidates regarding claims of voting machine irregularities reported by Breitbart Texas–Hidalgo County has opted to let a grand jury handle the issue directly according to local reports.
In a special meeting of the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court on March 21, the commissioners debated over what to do about the machines, according to ValleyCentral.com. Precinct 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios offered concern about opening “Pandora’s Box” by allowing the issue to press further, according to the report. After the debate, the commissioners were unable to come to a conclusion and deferred the matter until March 25 where they eventually voted against hiring a forensics analyst, according to local press. The Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra has now referred the matter to a grand jury.
Election’s Administrator Yvonne Ramon has not returned calls to Breitbart Texas for comment, however, ValleyCentral.com quotes her from a report prior to the March 4th election where she claimed, “All the security measures are done by the state so they run these machines through the gamut and make sure they have internal measures that are secure.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner A.C. Cuellar stated he believes the machines have not been tampered with. He deferred the matter to law enforcement and advocated letting federal or state investigators look into the matter, according to local press.
“We have to address it whether we want to or not. There is too much commotion in reference to the machines and the voting process,” DA Rene Guerra said. “We give the machines full faith and credit like we do the American currency.”
DA Guerra lost his re-election bid in the March 4th primary, but is not a party to the lawsuit filed last week. The grand jury will convene on March 27 to consider the matter.
As Breitbart Texas previously reported, most of the candidates’ complaints regarding voting machines were largely unspecific. One letter, however, claimed “individual voters have indicated that in casting their vote using Hidalgo County’s voting machines, their vote for a particular candidate was changed by the voting machine; this happened repeatedly throughout the county.”
“Others have complained that the total votes reported by the machines exceeded the total of voters that actually voted,” a complaint letter obtained by Breitbart Texas said.
Follow Bob Price on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX
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