A judge called for a new election in a heated Weslaco city commissioner race. In November 2013, Lupe Rivera won the election against Letty Lopez by 16 votes. Lopez quickly filed a lawsuit claiming at least 44 votes were illegally cast for Rivera. The suit claimed nearly two dozen out-of-district voters registered to vote at in-district homes belonging to Rivera’s friends, neighbors or relatives. The suit also claimed that more than 20 mail-in ballots were illegally cast for Rivera… During his review, the judge rejected Rivera’s “home is where the heart is” residency standard. Some of the disallowed ballots were cast by voters claiming Rivera’s childhood home as their address. It’s a two-bed, one-bath home. Others were disallowed because the voters listed on the ballot testified that they did not, in fact, cast those votes. Defendant Rivera’s attorney, who just happens to be Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, plans to appeal.
Yes, voter fraud exists – as South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley continues to prove – and yes, it changes the outcome of elections: