Results Unchanged After Edinburg Election Recount; 10-Vote Margin Affirmed
By Arnoldo Mata
Edinburg, Texas, Dec. 7, 2023 – The results of a recount of the Edinburg City Council election held on Nov. 7thshowed City Council member David White kept his seat with the same 10-vote margin from election day.
At this week’s Edinburg City Council meeting, City Secretary Clarice Yvette Balderas reported on the results of the recount. The recount had been requested by Gerardo “Gerry” Lozano, who had challenged White for the Place 4 seat. White carried 3,334 votes to 3,324 for Lozano.
According to Balderas, the recount petition was accepted, and the recount was held on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. There was no change in the count results that were presented on Nov. 15th when the City Council canvassed the votes from the Nov. 7th election.
Speaking to those at the City Council meeting, Council Member David White said, “In 2019, I ran because we were looking for a change in our city, and that change occurred. The second round came, and we’re still working on the change for our city and the constituents of the community. Finally, we got a whole change in the City Council from what it was back in 2019. Back then, we got a black eye in our city. “
“And I want everybody to really understand right now. I won the election by 10 votes. It was hard work on both sides. Mr. Lozano’s side, too, and my side, too. And our process worked, and our process was fair. He requested a recount, which is his right with such a close vote.”
“I want the city to understand right now, the group that we have up here today, you got a group that wants to take care of our city and not looking out for ourselves. That fear that we had years back. I’m going tell you right now. I had that fear that ‘here comes that one box of missing votes. It just came from that little zone that was in one area.’ But that didn’t’ happen. We have changed our city. We’ve done what we needed to do: change this Council. The Council that’s looking out for you.”
“I’m really proud of our process. I really, really want to make sure everybody in the community knows we’ve come a long way. Our elections are secure and honest.”
City Council Member Daniel “Dan” Garcia added, “I think the recount was something new for all of us. I want to asked the City Secretary explain what the process was and the people that were chosen. Just for the record, so they know that it’s a very fair process and there’s people from the community that were asked to serve.”
Balderas explained that Edinburg 18 were selected. There were six groups of three people. They had to be Cty of Edinburg voters. Residency was verified and staff made sure their voter registrations were up to date. She added that everything was done correctly and that the County of Hidalgo Elections Department had everything very organized.
Before the Council addressed the results of the recount, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley faculty member Robert Velez took the opportunity to commend the city during the Public Comments section of the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.
“As someone who has spent most of my working career as a public employee,” Velez explained, “I know that oftentimes, public employees don’t get a lot of recognition. In fact, if you’re doing your job right, you generally don’t know that the public employee is working. So I just wanted to say thank thank you.”
“Number one, for Councilman White having such a close election. Now I can point that out to my political science students that their vote really matters, especially when it comes to city elections.”
“I also wanted to thank you because I have a solid example of how, when citizens make their voices heard, that things can happen and things can change. Earlier this year, I sent an email to the city about an intersection in my subdivision that was really bad, has been bad ever since I moved there, with potholes. It had been patched over multiple times, and the email went unanswered. I didn’t expect to necessarily get an answer, but I did end up connecting to the supervisor of road maintenance. And he said, ‘We’ll come out and take a look at it.’ A few days later, there were some additional patches that were done on the intersection. And I was grateful even though that wasn’t what I was really looking for. “
“But then, to my surprise, in the summer, I got a public notice that my entire subdivision was being resurfaced. And now I can explain to my students that that’s how it works. People call the city saying, ‘Here’s my problem. Here’s what I’d like you to do to fix it.’ The first response wasn’t exactly what I wanted. But then I got more than what I wanted, more than what I asked for. And we’re enjoying our new resurfaced subdivision. And I also want to thank all the attention that the north side of Edinburg has been getting recently. Thanks again for your leadership. And thanks to all the public employees.”