Ethelvina Felán, a member of the group, has sent a letter to County Elections Administrator T. Roy Schmerber asking what the status of the tax rate rollback petition is if information provided by the Texas Secretary of State’s Elections Division shows that the signatures turned were enough to hold a rollback election.

   In the letter, Felán recalls how the elections office validated 2,067 signatures on the tax rate rollback petition, leaving it short of the minimum requirement of  2,166  to hold a rollback election, and later did not respond to the email from the Texas Secretary of State’s Elections Division that confirmed Felán’s suspicions that there was a miscalculation: the minimum requirement should have been 1,945 after subtracting suspense voters, which would make the petition valid.

   Although the elections office did not subtract the suspense voters from the number of signatures required from the petition for the rollback election, they did subtract them from the certificates of obligation petition, said Felán.

   “However, the failure for almost a month to correct your office’s calculation and conclusion related to the Tax Rate Rollback Petition after confirmation by the Texas Secretary of State indicates the County Elections Office has been knowingly violating the Texas Election Code with respect to the Rollback Petition and Election,” she added. 

  “Have you or the County Elections Office provided written notice to Commissioners Court or the County Clerk that the 2,166 minimum identified by the County Elections Office on January 9, 2017 was not calculated in compliance with Section 277.0024 of the Texas Election Code?  

   Have you or the County Elections Office provided written notice to Commissioners Court or the County Clerk that the 2,067 valid signatures collected by the Rollback Petition exceeded the 7% minimum number needed to hold a Rollback Election per Section 277.0024?  

   If notices were provided, can you explain any responses that have been received?”