The 830 Times has received a number of texts, emails and phone calls this morning regarding a story published today by the Texas Tribune, “Texas takes over Val Verde County voter administration.”
The story makes it sound as though the state has taken action in Val Verde County recently. This is inaccurate.
In August 2025, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office published a “preliminary election audit report” and placed the Val Verde County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office under administrative oversight for defects in its voter registration records and for not keeping up-to-date precinct boundary information.
See story published by The 830 Times on Aug. 7, 2025. See previous story here.
The report can be read in its entirety here. See report here .
Immediately after receiving the preliminary audit last year, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. and the Val Verde County Commissioners Court called for monthly reports from Val Verde County Tax Assessor-Collector Elodia “Loly” Garcia on the work she and her staff are doing to rectify the deficiencies found in the preliminary audit. The court also approved a new policy aimed at correcting the deficiencies.
Both Owens and Garcia, contacted by The 830 Times this morning, said nothing new has happened.
The state is not “taking over” the county’s voter registration process, but has provided the local office with assistance and recommendations as the office works to remedy the deficiencies noted in last year’s audit.
Garcia said the state is expected to issue another report in August to publicize its findings on the local efforts. The 830 Times will publish that report as soon as it becomes available.
