UP TO COUNTY ELECTIONS BOARD TO CLEAN HERNANDEZ MESS

By Juan Montoya
It has now become crystal clear that if anything is going to be done to clean up the elections scandal perpetrated by the Ernie/Erin/Norma Hernandez campaign in the last runoff July 31 it now lies in the lap of the Cameron County Elections Board.

Will the board members continue to accept showcasing the county as a scandal-ridden jurisdiction that allows for the commission of election fraud in broad daylight as the latest Hernandez-instigated lawsuit alleges? Will it continue to turn a blind eye to the abuse of the elderly by fraudulent mail-in voting, the herding of elderly and mentally-disabled voters to the polls in vans who are not allowed to alight from the closed vehicles and have to vote under the watchful eye of paid politiqueros in a van filled with pre-marked sample ballots directing them which candidate to support in direct violation of the law?

And how about the ferrying of the elderly from adult day care centers almost by force who are then coerced into riding with the politiqueros and voting as they are told in return for  promise of a chicken plate or gift cards?

Or how about the handing of voting ballots to the driver of the van who then helps the elderly or mentally-disabled to mark in the ovals next to the names of their paymasters?

Or how about the negating of the elderly voters who did vote for the candidate they wanted but whose vote was nullified by the politiqueros who then filled in the oval of the other candidate, thereby making the ballot a non vote?

There goes the secret ballot, the ability to vote for the candidate of your own choosing and the ability to vote without having someone unduly influencing or changing your vote.

There are five members of the Cameron County Elections Board. They are the county judge Carlos Cascos, a Republican, Frank Morris, the Republican Party chairman, Sylvia Garza-Perez, the new Demo chair, Cameron County Clerk Joe Rivera, and Tony Yzaguire, the county tax assessor-collector.

A cursory review of the last three during their most recent elections indicates that they, too, have been favored by the mail-in votes and politiquero maneuvers, while Morris and Cascos constitute a minority on the board.

It is inimical to the political fortunes of the majority to right the wrong perpetrated by these groups and politicians since they themselves garnerd some of their political support from them. In fact, so did Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos and Sheriff Omar Lucio.

So far, not one elected official of either party – much less the board's majority – has criticized Hernandez or his team of politiqueros for their anti-democratic activities, much less his protege Cameron County Elections Adminitsrator Roger Ortiz. 

Cascos, too, is in some indebtedness to Yzaguirre, who agreed to include the votes from Laguna Vista that gave the past county judge's election to Carlos over John Wood.

It seems highly doubtful that Yzaguirre, Rivera and Garza-Perez will allow the board to remove Ortiz from office even after the brazen voter abuse that occurred right in front of his nose at the courthouse, Cristo Rey and Cameron Park early voting sites.

Elections reformers might do well not to pin all their hopes on the efforts of the Yolanda Begum campaign to right the wrongs that have been perpetrated against all of the voters in the county. Her attorneys have a tough row to hoe. 

Tonight, Citizens Against Voter Abuse (CAVA) will hold a petition drive at 6 p.m. at the Veterans' Memorial Park on Central Blvd. asking the proper authorities to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the alleged criminal activity.

Will anyone listen?