Elections Fraud?
Thanks to recent efforts, successful as they were, made by State Democrat Chair and Plaintiff's Attorney Gilberto Hinojosa, with a helpful outlier judicial ruling, courtesy of a visiting judge, the Hidalgo County GOP now has enough political ammo, it says, to ask the state for more election inspectors this November.
If Hinojosa successfully argued that a handful of voters in a local May 2024 JP’s race really didn’t qualify for help at the polling place, then how deep does this alleged voter illegality dive?
According to the Hidalgo County GOP, plenty deep.
From a county GOP Sept. 5 press release:
“The Hidalgo County Republican Party implores our elected officials and Democrat operatives not to succumb to election fraud and be aware of the various law enforcement units that will be overseeing our elections."
In recent months, Gilberto Hinojosa has been successful in convincing Jose Manuel Bañales, a visiting judge from Nueces County, that two local elections were victims of “election fraud.”
Not only that, but in unusual fashion, in both cases, Bañales not only declared that illegal votes were indeed cast, but he then turned around and declared that the opponents, the candidates who had initially lost their respective elections, AKA, Hinojosa’s legal clients, were the real victors in both elections.
How unusual were these two cases?
If you do an online search for “Judge overturns election, names new winner,” you’ll be hard pressed to find any. There’s one out of Orlando, but not many others. Most alleged election-fraud cases like the two recently successfully tried in Hidalgo County by the state’s Democrat Chair, Gilberto Hinojosa, are ordered to hold a new election.
In other words, let the electorate return to the polls and choose the winner if an election is found fraudulent.
That’s the way most election cases across the country play out, the few that pop up online, courtesy of a judicial ruling.
This Judge is Different
In Hidalgo County, late May through early August, the same judge, Bañales, was the final arbiter when it was time to decide who would sit on the Edinburg City Council, Place 4 seat, and who would take the bench in the JP court belonging to Hidalgo County Precinct 3, Place 1.
In both cases, State Dem Chair Gilberto Hinojosa proved the victor while Bañales signed off on both lawsuits before taking off, back to the Corpus area.
The Brownsville-based attorney, Hinojosa, played the same part — plaintiff’s attorney — in an election trial dating back to 2019. Things then, though, were far different.
Of course, Bañales wasn’t the judge in that case.
In May 2019, visiting Judge Federico “Fred” Hinojosa, Jr. ordered that a 2018 Hidalgo ISD trustees’ election was tainted. Toss it out.
Unlike Bañales, however, Judge “Fred” Hinojosa ordered a new trial. He didn’t just hand the victory to the plaintiff, thereby nullifying all votes cast during the election.
In the end, however, the 13th Court of Appeals overturned the judge’s ruling and gave the seat back to the original winner of that 2018 election.
In the JP’s case this year, time played the deciding factor when it came to its appeal. The 13th simply opined in late August that there wasn’t sufficient time to work its way through the voluminous records submitted during trial to meet the Aug. 29 deadline that decided what name went on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Like the Edinburg election, in the JP’s race, Bañales refused to let defense attorneys present evidence that the plaintiff’s side, too, was guilty of voter improprieties.
Goodbye, Sonia Treviño; hello, Ramon Segovia.
So between approximately May 31, 2024 and Aug. 7, Gilberto Hinojosa, State Democrat Chair and plaintiff’s attorney, had convinced the same judge to not only rule two local elections invalid, but also completely overturn them, naming the winner the loser, and the loser the winner.
As mentioned at the top of this story, cases such as this — where not only was an election ruled invalid, but to have a judge name the new winner — are almost unheard of, according to any simple online search: “Judge overturns election, names new winner,” There are a few, but they’re very few and far between.
GOP Allegations
With that back story, here then, is the (unedited) Sept. 5 press release sent out last week by the Hidalgo County GOP:
Today the Hidalgo County Republican Party has formally requested State Election Inspectors from the Texas Secretary of State for the November election. After successfully litigating a hotly contested J.P 3 election lawsuit which uncovered widespread election fraud, Texas Democrat Party Chairman (Gilberto Hinojosa) proved what we've known for a very long time. Democrat 'political operatives' Politiqueras on both sides of the election use illegal tactics, and under the table campaigning to win in Hidalgo County.
We welcome Attorney General Ken Paxton's Election fraud unit, the Texas Rangers Integrity Unit, the FBI and Texas Secretary of State to come to Hidalgo County and safeguard the most sacred democratic process in our nation.
This election cycle will be one of the most contentious cycles in our lifetime and it's incumbent upon us to make sure our most sacred right, the right to vote, is protected.
The Hidalgo County Republican Party implores our elected officials and Democrat operatives not to succumb to election fraud and be aware of the various law enforcement units that will be overseeing our elections. We are as well requesting anyone wanting to be a poll worker or poll watcher to help safeguard the elections to please reach out to our office at 956-803-0111 or email our secretary at hidalgocountygop.secretary@ gmail.com.
If you are aware of anyone taking part in illegal election activities, please email the Texas Attorney General election integrity tip line at illegalvoting@oag.texas.gov.
Final Thoughts
Switching gears for a minute from a straight news story to an opinion column, the fact that Bañales overturned two elections, with the same attorney tied to both cases, screams, “We need to check out this seeming odd bromance, because something seems just a little bit off about this whole deal."
What gives the judge the legal right to decide an election and basically nullify all the votes cast with no way of knowing which candidate actually won because no recount was ever done? No new election so ordered?”
For starters, seeing a judge hand the election to the losing party, without holding another election, is wrong on so many levels, according to the many attorneys with whom I spoke regarding this case. As a county, we can only hope that he loses his part-time side hustle as a visiting judge. As one, he’s recently proven to be terrible. Just my opinion.
Unless, of course, you’re Gilberto Hinojosa and one of his (former) losing clients. Then Bañales is your go-to guy on the bench.
Second, the way he handled both cases, especially the JP’s race, he never let the other sides show that they, too, could prove voter fraud on the part of their respective opponent.
In fact, the guy who ultimately won the JP race, courtesy of Bañales, Ramon Segovia, is a known politiquera vote harvester. There is a photo of him standing in front of a board with their names listed, trying to allegedly impress a candidate running for office:
“Look how many politiqueras my team and I can offer you.”
Yet, Bañales doesn’t let the defendant, Sonia Treviño, offer proof in court that the other side (Segovia’s) cheated?
Oh, well, it is what it is.
Shady might be the right word to use, because that’s how a lot of people are going to see the work of Judge Bañales, with regard to these two recent election cases in Hidalgo County. Also front and center, the state’s top dog in the Democrat Party – Gilberto Hinojosa.
No one is outwardly accusing them of any wrongdoing, but for many, perception becomes reality.