By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The results of two very close local elections remain unchanged after the counting today of some 75 additional ballots received after Election Day.
Democrat Elodia “Loly” Garcia has won re-election to the office of Val Verde County Tax Assessor Collector, and Democrat Kerr Wardlaw will succeed his father Martin Wardlaw as the next Precinct 1 Val Verde County Commissioner.
County Clerk Teresa Esther Chapoy announced the unofficial results of the counting of additional absentee ballots by mail and Federal Postcard Application (FPCA) ballots just after noon today in the main hallway of the historic county courthouse.
The early voting ballot board assembled at the courthouse at 9 a.m. today and tallied and counted the ballots received after Election Day. The counting procedure lasted for about three hours.
Chapoy emphasized the results of the election won’t be official until they are canvassed by Val Verde County Commissioners Court during a special meeting at 9 a.m. Friday.
Chapoy first announced the final results of the race for Precinct 1 County Commissioner.
She said Wardlaw received a total of 1,600 votes, while his opponent, Alfinio “Al” Flores, a Del Rio business owner and the Republican Party nominee for the office, receive a total of 1,527 votes.
Wardlaw entered today’s count 77 votes ahead of Flores. The final vote tally narrowed the margin between the two candidates to 73 votes.
Chapoy then read the results of the race for the office of Val Verde County Tax Assessor Collector.
She said Garcia received a total of 6,867 votes, while her challenger, Maricar Ortega Chattler, the Republican Party nominee for the office, received a total of 6,836 votes.
Garcia entered today’s count 22 votes ahead of Chattler. The final vote tally expanded the margin between the two candidates to 31 votes.
Chapoy said her office received a total of 84 absentee ballots by mail and FPCA ballots, but nine of those ballots were rejected because the voters were not registered or because the ballots were not postmarked by Nov. 5, as the law requires.
She said it was the job of the early voting ballot board to go through those ballots and make those determinations.
Chapoy had a comment after she announced the results.
Chapoy said, “One thing I would like to add is that the candidates, when they’re going out and trying to get people to vote for them, they need to ask those people, ‘Are you a registered voter in Val Verde County? When was the last time you voted?’ Things like that. Make sure the person you are trying to get to vote for you is a registered voter in Val Verde County.”
Chapoy also spoke about the important function served by the early voting ballot board.
“I have a great early voting ballot board. What they do is they verify that the provisional (ballots) are going to be able to be counted or not. My early voting ballot board also does signature verification. The envelope comes in, and they have to check the signature on the envelope (against) the signature on the application,” Chapoy said.
“And then when the ballots arrive, they match everything up and they check. Sometimes people don’t mark their ballots right; instead of filling in the little oval, they’ll put an ‘x’ on it instead of filling in the oval, so those have to be remade,” she added.
She called the early voting ballot board “an essential part” of the election process in Val Verde County.
She noted the early voting ballot board is comprised of both Republicans and Democrats.
At the end of the count, Chapoy said, “We’re very transparent. We’ve been as transparent as we possibly can without putting anybody’s information out. We don’t put anybody’s information out. People think we can give them a receipt for their ballot. We don’t give receipts for ballots. Once they put that ballot in the DS200, it’s cast. It loses its identity. There’s no way for us to know how anybody voted.
“It’s private, and nobody’s wife or husband can tell how their spouse voted,” she added.
Chapoy also praised her team, saying, “I have a great team; Cynthia and Ruby and my entire clerk team that were inside keeping everything else running. They’re fantastic.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
