March 24, 2014 5:51 PM

LON BURNAM FILES LAWSUIT CHALLENGING ELECTION RESULT

Alleges illegal practices in absentee mail in ballots

"Today I filed a lawsuit in state court to examine this month’s Democratic primary election for Texas House District 90 to determine if there were hundreds of illegally cast ballots. I believe I have no choice after receiving multiple reports of an illegal computerized-signature vote-by-mail operation run to benefit my opponent. This operation appears to have clearly violated state law.

Of the 5,078 total votes cast in this race, 951 were absentee mail-in ballots, which is more than enough to have been a deciding factor in the 110-vote margin of victory.

"I have received reports from voters in the district who say they were approached at their door by campaign workers of unclear affiliation who asked them to fill out a vote-by-mail application on an electronic tablet device such as an iPad.

"Texas law clearly does not allow the practice of filling out vote-by-mail ballot applications electronically, which the Texas Secretary of State’s has confirmed. Other questionable practices about this operation aside, this renders the entire operation illegal.

"My lawsuit seeks to obtain, through court orders, documents from the County Clerk’s office and from those involved in this operation so we can obtain all of the relevant facts. I believe that these documents and other testimony will establish beyond question that the computerized-signature operation was illegal and that I won the election.

"I want to emphasize that what is at issue here is not in any way related to the new Voter ID law. As I have long maintained, any real potential for fraud in our elections lies in absentee vote-by-mail ballots, NOT in-person voting".

Here is a copy of the petition.