By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Incumbent Mayor Al Arreola is leading the race for Del Rio mayor by nine votes, according to unofficial election results announced today.
Val Verde County Clerk Teresa Esther Chapoy read the results of early voting by personal appearance and voting from three polling locations today, Election Day, from the front portico of the county courthouse just before 7:30 p.m.
Chapoy announced a total of 1,859 ballots were cast, with 1,853 Del Rio residents casting ballots in the mayoral runoff election between the incumbent, Arreola, and retired educator Efrain V. Valdez, who formerly served as Del Rio mayor and as Val Verde County judge. The difference of six votes between the two totals was due to overvotes and undervotes, Chapoy said.
Arreola had an unofficial total of 931 votes, and Valdez had an unofficial total of 922 votes, a difference of nine votes, Chapoy announced.
Before reading the results, Chapoy told those gathered outside the courthouse, “I just would like to clarify and make sure that everybody understands that the elections in Val Verde County have not been seized by anybody. We are business as usual, and that was just a false report, and I appreciate The 830 Times for clarifying that.”
Chapoy then read the results, then added, “Outstanding are 67 mail-in ballots. Those must be postmarked today and in our office by 5 o’clock on Monday.”
Chapoy’s deputy then added that the votes would be recounted manually because of the small number of votes separating the two candidates, but Chapoy later told The 830 Times Valdez must petition her office for the recount.
Only Valdez, his wife Bibi, more than a dozen other relatives, including daughters and grandchildren, as well as Linda and Eloy Padilla, two of the Valdezes’ closest friends, were present at the courthouse to wait for the announcement of the results.
After the announcement, Valdez was philosophical, saying his many years as a coach prepared him for both victory and defeat.
Valdez said, “I was just telling everyone (in my group) that retiring and coming back is very difficult to do. We ran a good race. I’m proud of my family and my supporters. We all worked hard, and we lost by nine votes, and I’m going to say that, of those 67 votes still out there, if they haven’t been mailed by now, it’s like the (first election for mayor) when I had (former District 2 Councilman Jim) DeReus by 18. If they haven’t been mailed by now, they’re not going to come in.
“He (Arreola) ran a good race. We both ran a good race. It was tight, very close, but if we lost, we lost; we’ll just move on,” Valdez said.
Valdez did add, though, before leaving the courthouse, that he won’t concede the race until the remaining votes are counted.
Arreola, reached by phone after the announcement, said, “I’m very optimistic. The good Lord gave me the strength to fulfill the early voting and this. I’m still very hopeful. I think the citizens of Del Rio balanced everything out, and if God’s willing, I’ll be back for four more years, but I’m very optimistic and very positive that the outcome will stay the same, but it was a really nice, clean fight with Mr. Valdez.
“I think whoever comes in as mayor will be moving our city forward,” Arreola added.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
