The large boards displaying early voters in the Starr County election. (Courtesy | Martie Garcia-Vela)
A second complaint was filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s office in Starr County on Friday, the last day of early voting, when a request for information was answered in unexpected fashion.
Two large monolithic plywood boards were set up outside the Rio Grande City Grulla ISD office grounds. About 113 pages listing voters, their respective voter ID numbers, and corresponding polling sites and precincts were secured in place by screwed-in plexiglass on the makeshift bulletin boards.
“You would probably need a ladder to get up there and read it,” Martie Garcia-Vela said.
The pages were dated Oct. 28, 2022, the same day Garcia-Vela requested the list from the district, according to the complaint she filed with the Texas Secretary of State’s office on Friday.
Garcia-Vela requested the voter list on Friday, Oct. 28, and was told she would receive a response by the start of the next week. By Tuesday, she amended her request and asked for a current list of voters. She was advised on Thursday to make her request with Adolfo Peña, the superintendent and early voting clerk, whose approval was needed, Garcia-Vela said.
On Friday, she was told the structures were the response to her request, Garcia-Vela told The Monitor.
“I can’t reach the very top to even see what information is on there. So, it’s definitely not legible for me to even look at or count,” Garcia Vela said.
She filed a complaint with the state to reiterate the difficulty in getting public information and reaching Peña, the superintendent of the school district who also served as the early voting clerk, according to a document filed in the complaint.
“It is now Nov. 4, 2022 and the information has not been provided nor is it available in a downloadable database as required by the Texas Election Code,” Garcia-Vela wrote in her complaint, referring to Sec. 85.072 (f).
The code states: “The early voting clerk shall provide, in a downloadable database format, a current copy of the register for posting on the Internet website of the authority ordering the election, if the authority maintains a website, each day early voting is conducted. At a minimum, the voter registration number for each voter listed in the register must be posted.”
A photo of Peña’s empty office on Friday was also shared in the complaint.
The Secretary of State’s office did not respond to a request for clarification on the code as of Friday evening.
Peña also did not respond to a request for comment sent via email. The district attorney, Balthazar Salazar, said he would release a statement on Monday.
Garcia-Vela said her complaint was received by the Secretary of State’s office but no formal response has yet been sent.
“I feel like there’s no transparency on the election. I can’t get a clear answer on who is actually in charge. I just get a lot of finger-pointing, ‘you need to go here,’ or ‘you need to go there.’”
The complaint follows another complaint submitted earlier this week against an election judge after the complainant discovered some voters’ ballots were not cast due to a procedure she questioned.
By Friday evening, Garcia-Vela had yet to receive a response.
“I’m hopeful that they’ll do the right thing and just email me the information. It’s not anything difficult. It’s way less costly to the taxpayers by pushing a button rather than having a whole crew erect a structure to give me basic information that could’ve just been emailed,” Garcia-Vela said.
