Election lawsuit alleging fraud against Democratic Congressional nominee dropped
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A lawsuit filed against Democratic Congressional nominee Veronica Escobar and El Paso County Elections Administrator Lisa Wise has been dropped at the request of the former candidates who filed it.
Escobar said in a statement Tuesday, “This lawsuit never had merit under the law or fact.” She went on to state, “a frivolous challenge to elections undermines confidence in the election process, reflects disrespect for the voters’ will and costs the tax payers and winning candidates resources.”
In March, former Democratic Congressional hopefuls John Carillo, Norma Chavez and Enrique Garcia petitioned the State of Texas to inspect the election records of the Democratic Party of Texas and El Paso County, alleging fraud and claiming the results of the Democratic Congressional primary did not reflect “the true outcome.”
Escobar and Wise were named as respondents in the lawsuit obtained by ABC-7.
The petitioners lost the bid for the 16th Congressional District to Escobar on March 6, 2018. The seat was vacated by Congressman Beto O’Rourke. Escobar easily won the Democratic nomination for the congressional seat with more than 30,000 votes, about 61 percent. Escobar received more votes than all of her challengers combined.
Former El Paso ISD Board President Dori Fenenbock, who was not part of the lawsuit, came in second with 22 percent of the vote.
The petitioners asked Escobar and Wise to produce for inspection all documents “that claim the outcome of the contested election, as shown by the final canvass, is the true outcome.”
The petitioners also asked for 10 days to inspect election records held by the Democratic Party and El Paso County and to conduct a forensic analysis on the computers and hard drives used in the election.
