Texas Democratic Chairman Has Election Overturned Due to Fraud- Again

Gilberto Hinojosa, the Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, has once again succeeded in having the results of an election overturned in court due to fraud. Even though Hinojosa’s own lawsuits have proven how illegal voting has affected the outcome of elections, Hinojosa and the Party he leads have criticized Republicans for their positions on election integrity efforts.
 
Hinojosa’s client, Ramon Segovia, was a candidate for Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, Place 1, in the Democratic primary runoff in May. Segovia’s opponent in the runoff, Sonia Trevino, is the incumbent Justice of the Peace. After ballots were tallied on election night, Trevino appeared to prevail by a margin of thirty-one votes. 
 
Shortly thereafter, Segovia retained Hinojosa to file an election contest lawsuit to have the election results overturned due to fraud and other violations of the Texas Election Code by Trevino. After a bench trial presided over by retired State District Judge Jose Manuel Banales, 78 votes for Trevino were disqualified, and three votes for Segovia were disqualified. Segovia was also declared the winner of the election. 
 
In his election contest, Segovia alleged a host of misconduct that resulted in votes being illegally cast for Trevino. 
 
“Segovia filed his original petition alleging: numerous votes were illegally cast by individuals who were registered to vote at an address that was not a residence or not their residence; votes were illegally cast by voters who were assisted to vote even though they were ineligible for assistance, did not request assistance, or received assistance that was unauthorized by the Texas Election Code; mail-in ballots were counted in violation of the election code requirements1; voters unlawfully engaged in curbside voting; campaign workers were present inside voters’ vehicles during curbside voting; voters were pressured or coerced into voting; voting assistants did not take the required oath and did not sign the required forms registering as “assisters”; election officers did not “police voting stations”; Trevino’s campaign workers were present while voters cast their ballots; Trevino and her campaign conspired to monitor, influence, and pressure voters; among others. According to Segovia, the number of illegal votes exceeded the margin of victory,” wrote the Thirteenth Court of Appeals in an opinion upholding Banales’ ruling overturning the election and declaring Segovia the winner. 
 
After the trial was concluded, Judge Banales issued Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law that spanned a hundred pages. These Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law explained, in great detail, numerous specific instances where “clear and convincing evidence” established that violations of election law occurred that necessitated votes for Trevino being disqualified “as a matter of law.”
 
One of the most egregious examples of misconduct described in the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of law involved a twenty-five-year-old intellectually disabled man who was threatened and forced to vote for Judge Trevino against his will by her campaign workers. 
 
According to his testimony, the voter was at an adult daycare center when campaign workers for Trevino arrived to take attendees to the center to go vote. The campaign workers included Judge Trevino’s court clerk. The voter testified that he did not want to vote but was taken along with several others to vote anyway.
 
Once the voter arrived at the polling place, Judge Trevino’s court clerk assisted him with casting his vote and told him who to vote for. The voter also testified that he did not know Trevino’s court clerk and that she was not his friend, even though she had noted that she was the voter’s friend when assisting him with casting a ballot. 
 
Judge Banales’ Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law also described how the man was coerced into voting. 
 
“[The voter] added that he had never voted before and that he had never thought of it. When the ladies came to pick him up, [the voter] told them that he did not want to vote, because his mother was not with him. They told him all that all he needed was his ID. They said that if he did not go to vote, he would get in trouble with the law. He tried to walk away, but they followed him. He marked the ballot. They told him who to vote for. He stated that he would never vote again.”
 
Segovia’s election contest is the third time in the past three years that a court has overturned the results of an election due to an election contest filed by Hinojosa. In 2022, Judge Joel Johnson overturned the results of a Brownsville ISD school board election due to illegal voting. Hinojosa’s client in that case, Marisa Leal, filed the election contest after losing the election by eight votes.
 
Earlier this year, Hinojosa was on the legal team that helped Gerry Lozano successfully overturn the results of a race for Edinburg City Council. After incumbent councilman David White appeared to secure a victory by ten votes on election night, Lozano was declared the winner after the Court ruled that the number of illegal votes cast for White exceeded his margin of victory.  
 
Despite the overturning of these and other elections due to illegal votes being cast, such as the ruling earlier this year overturning the results of the 2022 election for the 180^th District Court in Harris County, Hinojosa has used his position as Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party to attack Republican elected officials for their positions on election integrity. 
 
“Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, and Dan Patrick will stop at nothing to sow distrust in our election system. Using secret police-like tactics to raid the homes of the elderly and Democratic strategists, while ignoring their own Secretary of State’s claims of ‘clean voter rolls,’ Texas Republicans will stop at nothing to undermine our democracy. They resort to fear tactics and misinformation to suppress voter turnout and cling to power, knowing that our movement for a blue Texas is gaining momentum every day. We won’t be intimidated — Texans are ready to stand up for their rights and make their voices heard at the ballot box this November. It’s imperative that eligible voters turn out in record numbers to show undeniable support for Texas Democrats up and down the ballot, defeating Texas Republicans’ continued election denialism,” said Hinojosa in a recent statement