Dear Friends,
I think we might have an opportunity to advance the cause of honest elections across the state in an unexpected way. Normally we think of election fraud as Democrats using fake mail-in ballots to steal elections. But there is another form of election fraud that we do not talk about, and that is ballot fraud. What I mean by ballot fraud is when a candidate runs in an election for which he is not really eligible, based on residency requirements in the law.
The most famous case of ballot fraud is when Brent Hagenbuch used his office address instead of his home address when he ran for Texas State Senate District 30. Sen. Drew Springer retired from office. There was an incumbent in the SD district in which Brent Hagenbuch lived, but there was no incumbent in SD30 because Springer was retiring, and where his business office was located. This seemed like an open-and-shut chase, yet Hagenbuch was allowed to continue to stay on the ballot and eventually won the election. Candidate Carrie de Moor went to court and Judge Lee Gabriel, Denton County District Court, presided. Candidate Jace Yarbrough, unsuccessfully sought to get a state appeals court to intervene.
How on earth did Hagenbuch get away with this? Was it because he was endorsed by Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick? Was it because his legal team included political heavyweights like former Texas Secretary of State John Scott and State Rep. Richard Hayes, who is a past Denton County Republican Party chairman like Hagenbuch? What was the logic to allow Hagenbuch to flout the residency requirements? I was not interested enough in Denton's problems to research this curious turn of events, but now we appear to have ballot fraud here in Collin County.
The wife and daughter of Stephen Kallas live in Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1 (JP1), but Stephen Kallas claims residence in Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4 (JP4). Mr. Kallas has chosen to run for the JP4 position instead of the JP1 position. Why? Is it because the Judge in JP1 listened to eyewitness testimony, looked at video evidence, and still found Stephen Kallas not guilty of misdemeanor assault, saying he had reasonable doubt? I don't believe that Stephen Kallas lives in JP4, but the real decision rests with a District Court Judge.
Since Brent Hagenbuch got away with pretty obvious ballot fraud, maybe the laws have too many loopholes. If we know what the problems are in the laws that make the residency laws hard to enforce, then we can identify the changes that are needed and advocate for those changes in our party platform. Across the state, Republicans could use our new anti-ballot fraud party platform plank to press our legislators to fix our laws, if they need to be fixed.
It was hard to be motivated to dig into ballot fraud in another county, but now the concern about ballot fraud is here at home, in Collin County. We are not surprised when we have dishonest legislators, but it seems intolerable to have a dishonest judge. A Justice of the Peace is a judge. We should try to understand what happens in this case, which is case number 296-09883-2025 in the Collin County District Courts.
The laws are complicated, but since ballot fraud is widespread across the state, and because ballot fraud is the most common way Establishment politicians undermine Grassroots candidates, it is important to have some understanding of what is going on here in Collin County. One point to understand is that you or I cannot make any formal complaints about any ballot fraud we perceive. The problem must be addressed in court and only a candidate has standing. If the court agrees that a candidate is not eligible to run in a race, the judge who makes that decision cannot remove the bogus candidate from the ballot. But the judge can order the county party chairman to remove the bogus candidate from the ballot.
The way that our legal system is setup, Candidate Vincent Venegoni is able to file a complaint with the courts, and the complaint is not against the candidate whose eligibility is questioned. No. The complaint must be against the county party chairman because it is only by compelling the party chair with a court order to remove an ineligible candidate that the problem can be fixed.
It appears that ballot fraud is used across the state. This issue is important enough that I want to follow it, understand it, and think about how we can use our party platform to fix a widespread problem. We have a lot of smart people here in Collin County. We could lead the state in fixing the problem of ballot fraud!
Thank you for your patience with this complicated issue.
Robert Canright
References:
About the Hagenbuch case
‘Tangled Web of Lies’: Texas Senate Residency Challenge Heading to Trial
By Erin Anderson | January 23, 2024
Judge lets Texas Senate contender campaign amid residency doubts
BY PATRICK SVITEK
Tuesday JAN. 23, 2024, 12:18 P.M. CENTRAL
The Texas Tribune
https://www.texastribune.org/
Senate District 30 candidate Hagenbuch can stay on ballot, but denied lawsuit dismissal challenging his residency
By Juan Betancourt Staff Writer Jan 22, 2024
Denton Record - Chronicle
Example from another contest
When it comes to Texas politics, residency for candidates is ‘a state of mind’ | KERA News
KERA | By Miranda Suarez
Published February 20, 2024 at 6:00 AM CST
Part of the oath a judicial candidate signs on his ballot application:
"I further swear that the foregoing statements included in my application are in all things true and correct.”
https://www.sos.state.tx.us/
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