Crittenden hints at legal challenge to Upshur election - KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

According to the Tyler Paper

GILMER (KYTX) - Upshur County District Attorney Billy Byrd said Wednesday he found no criminal violations in the voting irregularities in Tuesday's Republican runoff for Precinct 1 county commissioner.

Byrd also said the election could be voided only if the errors are shown to have "materially affected" the outcome.

Incumbent James Crittenden, who trailed county employee Paula Gentry by a 319-vote margin of 798-479 in complete, unofficial returns, said Wednesday that "I am still considering" bringing a court challenge to the election aimed at forcing it to be held again.

"I want to evaluate everything" first, Crittenden said.

Byrd said Tuesday night it appeared the Precinct 1 commissioner election would be voided and held again because the wrong ballots were erroneously given to some voters at one polling place in that precinct.

In a news release Wednesday, he said, "At this time, there are only a handful of voters that have been identified with irregularities of voting in wrong precincts.

"Further, our main concern was to make sure that there was no tampering with ballots or the vote during this election. At this time, there appear to be no criminal violations," Byrd said.

On Tuesday night, Byrd had said he confirmed that some voters at the county "rock building" in Gilmer received ballots that did not have the race between Crittenden and Ms. Gentry. He said then he had not yet determined the "extent" of the error, but it appears "they're going to end up having to have this (commissioner) election over again."

Byrd said then the loser could file a legal challenge, probably necessitating another election. But in a news release issued Wednesday, he cited a 2008 ruling by an Amarillo appellate court in another election case as showing that certain criteria would have to be shown to vacate the election.

The errors in Upshur County Tuesday arose at a polling place — the county "rock building" in Gilmer — where consolidation of voting boxes resulted in voters from four precincts all voting at one location, said Cynthia Ridgeway, an Upshur County Republican official who won her runoff Tuesday for county GOP chairman.

In his news release, Byrd said, "There were a handful of individuals that voted in voting box 20 that should have been in voting box one. Therefore, Commissioner Crittenden's name and Paula Gentry were not on that ballot as voting box 20 is outside Commissioner Precinct One.

"There is at least one individual that has been identified that voted in Precinct One that was not registered to vote in One," Byrd added.

"The confusion lies in the redistricting and changes to voting precincts that occurred this year as a result of the latest census data," the district attorney said. "We are continuing to gather all facts to determine how these irregularities occurred."

To read more, visit http://tylerpaper.com/article/20120802/NEWS01/120809970.