Eleven people are registered to vote at an old farm in Loving County, Texas – including Loving County Commissioner Ysidro Renteria, who has been in office since 2011. But the local sheriff says no one lives there. via NBCNews
Eleven people are registered to vote at this sprawling ranch in Mentone, Texas, including a county commissioner. But according to the sheriff, who is also the voter registrar, no one actually lives here.ByMENTONE, Texas — One of the worst-kept secrets in Loving County sits along the shoulder of a desolate stretch of state highway in the heart of the Permian Basin.
Elections often come down to tiny margins, but the stakes are high: Winners are awarded sway over an outsized budget. This roughly 670-square-mile patch of desert sits atop some of the richest oil and gas reserves in the U.S., generating a tax base that has hovered around $7 billion to $9 billion. Salaries for top elected officials are in the six figures. They steer an annual budget of more than $28 million.
Texas election code requires candidates for commissioner to continuously reside in the county they plan to represent for at least six months before they file to run for office. Applications are submitted under oath, with the possible penalty of perjury. In the March primary election, 1 in 5 voters in Loving County had homestead exemptions elsewhere in Texas, an NBC News analysis of tax and voter records shows.
Then, last year, in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen, the Texas Legislature passed a law that tightened the definition of residency for voter registration. Known as SB 1111, the new law — effective Sept. 1, 2021 — says people can use “previous residences” to register to vote only if they’re living there at the time and plan to stay there.
and engaging in organized crime. Three ranch hands were arrested as well; none of the four men has yet been indicted. Jones, who is running unopposed this fall, declined to comment. His attorney didn’t return calls. When Busse read the law, he thought, “Well, that’s gonna weed out some voters in the county, because you can’t continue to claim a residence in another city and then come out here and vote,” he said.
If people have property in Loving County and go back once or twice a year and spend a few days there, Ingram said, “I think, arguably, they inhabit that location, and they can claim it as a residence.” Ingram said that if a close election resulted in a court challenge, it would be up to a judge to decide whether individual voters met residency requirements.After the March primary election, Busse called Ingram back, frustrated. The commissioner’s race in Busse’s district, Precinct 4, had come down to an 8-5 vote.
But there was one thing Busse could do: send out voter registration address confirmation cards. If voters don’t respond within 30 days, they are placed on “suspense,” which means they can’t vote again without making sworn statements about their residences. Someone who lies on the card can be prosecuted for making a false statement and swearing to it under oath . The maximum sentence for the misdemeanor is up to a year in jail; the felony ranges up to two years.
Some people still repeat a story that the late Newt Keen, who owned Newt’s Cafe, used to tell about a boy crying on Election Day. Keen told the story to aIt went like this: “On Election Day, There was this ol’ boy a-sitting out there on the bench by the pay phone, and he was cryin.’” His brother Tom Jones ran for his open commissioner’s seat, losing by one vote to rancher Zane Kiehne. Tom Jones challenged the election results in court, leading to a two-day trial in Mentone, where voters in the precinct were questioned one by one about their residency.
Loving County's budget has grown from about $2 million in 2008 to $28 million in 2022, fed largely by revenue from oil and gas.Pump jacks outnumber people in Loving County, which has 0.1 people per square mile, according to the U.S. census.In the past 15 years, fracking has boomed, feeding money into the county’s coffers. The roads around town are smooth and sturdy, supporting the weight of heavy oil and gas traffic. Clean water flows from the faucets.
“He is here approximately every two to three months,” Simonsen said, adding that “he has more ties to Loving County than anywhere else.” She was baptized in the Pecos River by her grandfather, she said, adding: “I care more about every road, river and rock there than I do any other place in Texas.” In addition to serving on the commissioners court, which has a six-month residency rule, Ysidro Renteria also holds an appointed position on the Loving County Appraisal District board, which — under Texas tax code — has an even more stringent residency requirement: two years.
King said in an interview that she felt it was necessary to “maintain the integrity of the court system and not allow people to lie about being residents.” “When you live in a small rural county, with not many people, it tends to get ran by certain ones forever,” he said. “And nothing against these people. I’ve known them 30 years. My kids grew up with their kids.”
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