Thompson v. Willis

881 S.W.2d 221, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 2097, 1994 WL 405917
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 4, 1994
DocketNo. 09-94-177 CV
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 881 S.W.2d 221 (Thompson v. Willis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thompson v. Willis, 881 S.W.2d 221, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 2097, 1994 WL 405917 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

BURGESS, Justice.

This is an expedited appeal of an election contest. Tex.Elec.Code Ann. § 231.009 (Vernon 1986). Robert C. “Bob” Willis and John P. Thompson sought to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for the office of County Judge of Polk County in the March 1994 primary. After the original vote and a recount, Thompson was the winner by ninety votes. Willis filed suit in the District Court contesting the election. Tex.EleC.Code Ann. § 221.002 (Vernon 1986). Willis, in his First Amended Petition, alleged certain irregularities in the conduct of the election. First he noted the early votes and mail-in ballots were opened March 7, 1994, and should not have been opened until election day, March 8.1 He also alleged all members of the Early Voting Board,2 made markings on ballots “for the ostensible purpose of facilitating their processing by the electronic counting devices of Polk County” instead of making duplicate ballots and one member “took the opportunity to make marks on a large number of early votes or mail-in votes beside the name of Contestant, John P. Thompson, thereby making it appear that votes were cast for him when in fact the voter had cast no such vote for anyone in the County Judge race.”3 He further alleged that because of the marking and alteration of ballots the true results cannot be known or determined and the outcome announced was not the true outcome because fraud, illegal conduct or mistake caused an erroneous result. It was not alleged that Thompson had personally committed any fraudulent acts or illegal conduct.

A visiting judge heard the contest. Tex. Eleo. Code Ann. § 231.004, § 231.005 (Vernon 1986). Five witnesses testified: the interim County Clerk, the members of the Early Voting Board and a Texas Ranger. It was uncontroverted the County Clerk had instructed members of the early voting board to utilize special graphite pencils to “over-mark” ballots. Voters were instructed to mark their ballots with a graphite pencil by completely darkening a printed oval next to a candidate’s name. When members of the early voting board saw ballots that were marked, i.e. indicated the choice of a candidate, but were not sufficiently marked 4, they were instructed to “fill in” the oval. Each member of the board was given approximately one-third of the early voting and mail-in ballots to review. Although the members [223]*223were in close proximity, they independently reviewed their portion of the ballots and over-marked the ballots without consulting other members of the board. The number of over-marked ballots was a disputed fact issue. The interim county clerk testified she could not determine the number. One member of the board testified she marked one hundred to one hundred fifty ballots. Another member testified he marked eight to twelve ballots. The third member testified she marked approximately ten ballots. The Texas Ranger testified he reviewed the ballots and made a note of twelve ballots that looked unusual. He also testified there was no “fool-proof’ way to segregate out the ballots that had been over-marked by the early voting board.

Thompson urges seven points of error. We shall address them as grouped by Thompson. Points one, two and four concern the evidentiary basis for the court’s ruling. The first point alleges no evidence, the second point alleges insufficient evidence and the fourth point attacks the credibility of a witness. The third point alleges the trial court erred in ruling it was impossible to ascertain the true outcome of the election. The fifth point alleges the trial court erred in ruling the election is void and ordering a new election.

The trial judge’s findings of fact, in pertinent part, state:

7. There were 2,091 early and absentee votes subjected to the review and marking procedure out of a total of 6,710 votes cast.... Several hundred original ballots appear to have been marked upon during the process. About eighty percent of the total ballots have a neat darkened oval in the space to mark the voter’s choice for County Judge and it is not possible to now tell when nor by whom this group of ballots were actually marked.
8. The particular ballots marked upon by the Early Voting Ballot Board cannot be segregated or identified at this time. More than 120 ballots had markings added or small darkened circles placed beside the candidate’s name (either Thompson or Willis) by the members of the Early Voting Ballot Board after original markings had been placed upon them by the voters....

The trial judge’s conclusions of law, in pertinent part, state:

2. An “illegal vote” is a vote that is not legally countable. Tex.Elec.Code Ann. § 221.003 (Vernon 1986).
3. The unauthorized assistance provided to more than 120 ballots in the County Judge’s race voids each of those ballots ....
5. Because of the number of unascertainable illegal votes in this matter, the true outcome of the election cannot be determined at this time.

The trial judge, in the judgment, stated: “... this Court finds that clear and convincing evidence established that unsworn election officials serving on the Early Voting Ballot Board mistakenly engaged in conduct [footnote omitted] which makes it impossible to ascertain the true outcome of this election. These members of the Early Voting Ballot Board marked on the ballots previously marked by voters contrary to Section 127.126 of the Texas Election Code, thereby, in effect, rendering assistance to voters in violation of Chapter 64, Subchapter B, of the Texas Election Code_”

Although Findings of Fact in a judge-tried case are not conclusive when a complete statement of facts appears in the record, great deference must be given to the judge’s determination of the witnesses’ credibility and the weight to be given their testimony. See Middleton v. Kawasaki Steel Corp., 687 S.W.2d 42, 44 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.]), writ ref'd n.r.e per curium, 699 S.W.2d 199 (Tex.1985). It is axiomatic that, in a non-jury case, the trial court is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony. The court has the power to believe or disbelieve all or part of a witness’ testimony. Medrano v. Gleinser, 769 S.W.2d 687, 689 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1989, no writ). The trial judge is the judge of the credibility of the witnesses and of the weight to be given their testimony and it is within his province to reconcile any inconsistencies. Day v. [224]*224Crutchfield, 400 S.W.2d 377, 380 (Tex.Civ. App.—Texarkana 1965, writ dism’d).

The rule is no different in election contests. Wilburn v. Galloway, 179 S.W.2d 540 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont, 1944, no writ), was a school consolidation case. The official canvass showed 42 in favor, 31 against.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
881 S.W.2d 221, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 2097, 1994 WL 405917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-willis-texapp-1994.