DALLAS, March 31 (UPI) -- The discovery of new votes in a South Texas congressional race three weeks after the election is reminding many of the state's most infamous elections scandal.
In 1948 the discovery of more than 200 votes in Box 13 was enough to give Lyndon B. Johnson an 87-vote victory in his U.S. Senate race and change the course of U.S. history.
The latest flap in the 28th Congressional district is not of that historical magnitude but it's enough to generate headlines and apparently a lawsuit from one candidate.
Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar, a former Texas secretary of state, was leading incumbent Rep. Ciro Rodriguez by 197 votes Wednesday in the ongoing recount of votes cast May 9 in the primary for the Democratic Party nomination.
Rodriguez, who was ahead of Cuellar until the recount began, said in a telephone interview that he plans to file a lawsuit because there are too many unanswered questions about the latest vote totals.
Rodriguez, who is also chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, had a 150-vote lead until Cuellar requested the recount. He said he expected a difference of maybe four or five votes but the results have been enough to knock him out of the lead.
A recount in Zapata County uncovered 304 votes that had not been recorded and 237 of them went for Cuellar. Another recount in Webb County found 115 more votes than there were ballots cast in the race. Counts in other counties continue.
"That has raised some real questions about the integrity of this election and the votes in those counties," said Rodriguez in San Antonio.
The four-term congressman said the Zapata County votes had been counted twice before and canvassed but in the recount all of sudden 304 new votes appeared. He has hired a lawyer with 33 years experience in fighting election battles.
"When this occurred (Attorney Buck Wood) said this has never happened in 33 years and the only comparison he could make was to the Box 13 incident," Rodriguez said.
Cuellar had no immediate comment but a spokesman for him told the San Antonio Express-News that Rodriguez was contesting the recount only because he was trailing.
"It's vital that we count every vote accurately and that's why he (Cuellar) paid for the recount," said Cuellar spokesman Colin Strother. "Now, all of a sudden, he loses votes and he's going to file a lawsuit."
The recount in the 11-county congressional district may not be completed until late this week, more than three weeks after the election. The lawsuit probably won't be filed until the recount is completed.
Republican James Hopson will challenge the winner in November in the Democrat-leaning district.
In Zapata County, the votes were counted as required but they were not properly recorded, the county's Democratic Party chairman told the Express-News. The problem in Webb County has not been explained.
The Box 13 incident was mentioned frequently by parties in the latest flap, but political experts said the only legitimate reason was they occurred in South Texas.
"Had this occurred in Twin Forks, Idaho, nobody would be talking much about it, but it didn't," said Jerry Polinard, a professor of political science at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. "It's unfortunate because it's going to cast a shadow over whatever the outcome is."
In the 1948 incident, Johnson narrowly defeated former Gov. Coke Stevenson in the closest Senate race in the nation's history at the time. Stevenson appeared to be the winner until late returns came in from Precinct 13 in Jim Wells County.
Johnson received 201 votes and Stevenson 2, which was enough to give LBJ the victory. Stevenson challenged the election, claiming fraud in Duval County and in Precinct 13 in neighboring Jim Wells County.
Stevenson took the dispute to the U.S. Supreme Court but in the end failed to overturn the election. Suspect voting lists from Box 13, which had the same handwriting, were lost or stolen and Duval County returns were burned.
After the disputed, narrow victory, Johnson was sometimes jokingly called, "Landslide Lyndon."
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