BY BERENICE GARCIA AND FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
The city of McAllen assured their election process was inspected and certified by the state after a candidate running for city commission shared a video Monday showing that voting machines give people the option to choose any district race to cast their ballot, an option the hopeful referred to as a flaw in the process.
City Attorney Isaac Tawil said that following concerns over their elections Monday, the first day of early voting, the city reinforced to election workers that they are appropriately assisting voters to select the correct districts when casting a ballot.
“The system is examined and certified through a rigorous process by the Secretary of State’s office,” Tawil said. “We have reviewed voting procedures with all of the voting locations to ensure that the elections staff at those locations are aware of what the election code requires and to remind voters of their obligation to vote in the district that they are required to vote in.”
Tawil added that not only was their elections in compliance, but the process also conforms to the requirements of the Texas election code, referring specifically to Sec. 64.001 which states that after a voter is accepted for voting, they “shall select a ballot, go to a voting station, and prepare the ballot.”
He said election clerks were in place and ready to assist the voters but that, ultimately, it was up to the voters to prepare their ballot.
“If a voter intentionally chooses to vote in a district where they are not registered to vote, I can’t tell you what the remedy would be for that right now, that’s a premature question,” Tawil said. “I am not aware that that has occurred.”
When asked about the situation, Mayor Jim Darling said he was aware there had been two issues.
“… Number one — we didn’t get all the registered voters, a full list of registered voters, from the county so we had to have some people vote provisional,” Darling said. “And that’s taken care of already.”
The other issue — that of voters selecting a district on the ballot — had caused some delay at one of the polling sites, according to the mayor.
“It slowed it down,” Darling said. “My understanding, (at) Lark, the line got to be an hour while they tried to straighten it out and so it had slowed some.”
The concern over the voting process was raised Monday by Timothy “Tim” Wilkins, a candidate for District 1 city commissioner, who posted a video to social media showing one of the early voting sites.
In the video, posted on his Facebook page, Wilkins records a voting machine which appears to give him the option of selecting which district to vote in.
“I walked in and presented my ID, I was given my voter authority document that says which precincts and which district I was supposed to vote in,” Wilkins said when reached by phone Monday afternoon. “They then walked me to the computer and at the computer, they gave me a Q-tip and told me to select which district I wanted to vote in.”
“At that time, on the computer, all six districts were present and I said, ‘You mean to tell me that I can select my district?’ and he’s like, ‘Well, you’re supposed to do D1,'” Wilkins said of the election worker.
At that point, Wilkins said he decided to start recording to document the situation and kept recording after he was told it was illegal to record within a polling location.
“The fact that I have the video, it proves my point. So I was willing to break the law for that purpose, it’s the right thing to do,“ Wilkins said. “Sometimes you’ve got to break a law to show everybody what the hell is going on, it’s ridiculous.”
The candidate continued to stress his concern about how broad of a problem he believes it could become.
“They’re letting voters select whichever district they want to vote in for city commission races,” Wilkins said. “That means you could live in South McAllen and vote in District 1 (North McAllen) this morning if you wanted to.”
“At a minimum,” he continued, “it’s supposed to be set up where you can only vote in the races that you’re supposed to vote.”
FIRST DAY TALLIES
Hidalgo County Elections Administrator Yvonne Ramon said that voting in the four elections being administered by the county went off without a hitch.
The county is administering elections for the city of San Juan and the McAllen, Progreso and Sharyland school districts.
According to the Hidalgo County Elections Department website, a total of 1,191 people cast their votes with the county, including 1,122 in-person votes and 69 mail-in votes.
The county also shows 245 people cast their vote at Fireman’s Park in McAllen, 283 people at Lark Community Center in McAllen, 102 people at Bannworth Gym in Mission, 76 people at Palm View Community Center in McAllen, 37 people at the Progresso Community Center, and 379 people at the San Juan Memorial Library.
“All of the locations were steady,” Ramon said Monday evening. “We knew that Progreso and Palmview would be low. Progreso has a bond election only, so they had 37 people.”
Ramon stressed the importance of voters in the four elections to visit the county’s website and look at Tuesday’s voting schedule since some locations will be opening at 8 a.m. and others will be opening at 7 a.m.
“Don’t just head out there,” Ramon said. “Be informed. Look at your sample ballot so that you are prepared, and continue the steady flow. These elections are very important.”
The city of McAllen had a total of 745 people cast their votes Monday; however, whether the tally includes mail-in ballots was not available as of press time.
According to McAllen City Secretary Perla Lara, 288 people voted at Fireman’s Park, 87 at Palm View Community Center, and 370 at Lark Community Center.
