Heading into Wednesday morning, the fourth after Dallas’ Saturday city council election, there are a couple of sure things about the incomplete District 6 council race. There is going to be a runoff election on June 10 to decide the West Dallas seat at the horseshoe and Monica Alonzo, the incumbent in the race and first round leader currently sitting at about 39 percent of the vote, is going to be in it. What isn’t clear is who her opponent will be. Omar Narvaez,currently leads Alex Dickey by 47 votes for second place, but more than 450 mail-in ballots in District 6 have not been tabulated. According to paperwork filed by the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office about 700 mailed in ballots total in Council Districts 2 and 6 can be traced back to “an individual that signs his name Jose Rodriguez.” Rodriguez, who the district attorney’s office believes does not exist, at least under that name, signed his name to hundreds of applications for mail-in ballots, attesting that he helped the person requesting the ballot apply for it. Those are the ballots that have yet to be included in District 6’s totals.
Over the past two days, the actions of both Alonzo and Narvaez’ supporters make it clear that neither side really knows what’s going on with impounded ballots. Texas state Representative Eric Johnson, who came out strong against potential vote fraud in West Dallas in April, tells the Observer that he has no idea which campaign might be behind the ballot chicanery.
“There’s a very good chance that this is being done to help a candidate that I would like to see win in one of these elections,” Johnson says. “I have no clue if it’s being done to help or hurt anybody I may or may not be supporting in any of these races. I just don’t care, I could be hurting a friend, I have no idea.”
Full Article: Eric Johnson, Mayor Rawlings and Council Candidates Await Tally of Impounded Ballots | Dallas Observer.