TX - Clerk to recheck petitions

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The City Clerk's office agreed Thursday to re-evaluate 1,166 names of people who were disqualified in the petition drive against the PGA Village resort after learning that a computer program might have read the wrong date from voting records.

Assistant City Clerk Yolanda Ledesma said that when she determined the petitioners' claim of a programming error might be correct, she decided the challenged names should be checked.

"It's the only right way to do it," said Ledesma.

She said the re-evaluation, which is being conducted manually for accuracy, started Thursday and likely would be complete next week.

The problem involves voters whose names were rejected because they signed petitions before their voter registrations were effective. It was one of several concerns that were taken to Ledesma on Thursday by the petitioning organizations: Save Our Aquifer Campaign, Communities Organized for Public Service and the Metro Alliance.

They said typing errors on voting records caused numerous voters to be improperly disqualified during the initial count by the clerk, among other complaints.

Ledesma said she could not authorize a broader re-evaluation of the petition records until the matter is reviewed by City Clerk Norma Rodriguez, who is out of town, and by City Attorney Andrew Martin, who said Wednesday he would meet with representatives of the group.

Juliana Murphy, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said the petitioners want to give the city a chance to correct errors, but may consider legal action if all the mistakes are not addressed.

Originally, the groups submitted 79,083 names; the clerk's initial review knocked off 29,570 of the names because they could not be confirmed as qualified voters. But 3,812 names were added to the valid list by a recheck that was finished Monday.

At least 10 percent of the city's voters must sign petitions to force the City Council to either reconsider its support of the resort or have a public vote on the matter. Ten percent is 63,006; the groups need 9,681 more names to reach that goal, according to the clerk.

The groups have until Tuesday to collect signatures, and representatives have said they are confident they will meet the goal. But they said they want to ensure that all valid voters who signed the first petitions are counted.

My SanAntonio

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2002


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