Voter Irregularities in Webb County

From the front page of the Laredo Morning Times (Cuellars Home Town):


Voting woes

Because of a technical difficulty, results from the Democratic and Republican primaries have been delayed.

The machine built to read the personal electronic ballots was incorrectly programmed, and as a result the votes must be extracted from flash cards attached to each machine.

Officials with the Webb County Elections Administration were unsure Tuesday how long the delay would last.

In Bexar County, early voting already has been reported. All of the 109 precincts in Bexar County that are part of Congressional District 28 have been counted; there were 6,690 votes cast there during the early voting period. U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar received 1,395 votes, or 21 percent of the early vote; challenger Ciro Rodriguez had 4,910 votes or 73 percent; and challenger Victor Morales of Crandall near Dallas had 385 votes, or 6 percent

And courtesy of Jane Hamsher media reports:

An abnormally high number of voters in Webb County aged 90 years or older prompted an attorney for the Ciro Rodriguez congressional campaign to request an investigation by the Texas Secretary of State. During the first 4 days of early voting, 93 votes were cast by people 90 or over and 51 were 100 or older.

In a message addressed to Kim Thol, Programs Specialist for the Elections Division of the Secretary of State, Luis Vera requested “an immediate appointment for an inspector for Webb County.” Vera reminded Thol, “Webb County has a long history of allegations of voter fraud.” In the 2004 primary election, Vera added, “the fraud made national news.” He was referring to the controversial election between Henry Cuellar and Rodriguez in which ballots, “discovered” days after the polls closed, eventually swung the election to Cuellar by a narrow 58 votes.

Vera also requested an investigation by the Voter Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice.

It sounds like Texas Cage Match.