Days after the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court voted not to order a forensic audit of voting machines alleged to have tabulation irregularities, the grand jury impanelled by the outgoing District Attorney has ordered a forensic analyst to conduct an audit of the machines.
Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra told The McAllen Monitor that the grand jury signed an order to hire a forensic analyst to check out the alleged voting irregularities put forward by 12 Democratic Party candidates from the March 4th Joint Primary.
“I think it’s necessary and I think we can do it real quick-like,” Guerra added.
The signed order was delivered to the County District Clerk’s Office where it will be passed on to 430th District Court Judge Israel Ramon.
Former Texas State Representative Aaron Peña told Breitbart Texas he was curious as to the timing of the allegations.
“The machines were purchased in 2006 and problems were reported almost immediately,” Peña said.
At the time, many voters urged Hidalgo County Commissioners to purchase machines that could produce a paper audit of the votes. During one of the early votes in a close election, Peña said about 4,000 votes were dumped from a machine due to a “programming error”.
Peña suggested that the investigation of the allegations regarding the machines be conducted by an independent agency like the Texas Attorney General or Department of Public Safety.
Breitbart Texas reached out to True the Vote President, Catherine Engelbrecht for her thoughts on this situation.
“Politicians like President Obama and Eric Holder sued Texas when we passed a law to enhance the integrity of our elections,” Engelbrecht said. “But the fact is, as these cases in Hidalgo County and across Texas prove, we need even more election security. Voter ID is a great law, but it’s only part of what we need.”
One of the candidates who filed suit in this matter told The McAllen Monitor, “Absolutely it’s a big deal,” said Paul Vazaldua, who ran for justice of the peace in Precinct 2 Place 2. “The focus of this is to give the voters piece of mind, to give the voters piece of mind that we have an election process that’s solid and full of integrity. And I think the only way we can do that is through a forensic analyst.”
Follow Bob Price on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX
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