Sorry, but this is a long one. We had a Grand Jury hand down several indictments in connection with a city election. The indictments were handed down without out office's input, as we were not ready to present the cases. One of the indictments was on a deputy voter registrar for a violation of Section 13.145, under Title 2, Chapter 13, Subchapter F, of the Texas Election Code, which reads as follows:

13.145. Unlawful Delivery of Certificate
(a) A voter registrar commits an offense if the registrar knowingly delivers a registration certificate to a person other than the applicant or the applicant�s agent appointed under Section 13.003.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.

Here is our take on it:
Our examination of section 13.145, shows that this section is limited to initial applications for voter registration since Subchapter F, is titled Initial Registration.

A review of the investigative reports and evidence failed to show that voter registrar handed out any initial voter registration certificates but did deliver replacement certificates to the polling place so that the voters requesting them could get them there. The information in the investigative reports by the Police Department and the Texas Ranger indicate that every requested certificate was for an individual already registered to vote and not for initial applicants. The information in regard to the allegations against the voter registrar does indicate an administrative problem in how replacement certificates were being processed, however, replacement certificates are addressed under Title 2, Chapter 15, Subchapter A, of the Texas Election Code, which is not a criminal offense, unless you fit it under Penal Code 39.02, as an abuse of official capacity. The problem we found with fitting it under 39.02, is the "intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to harm or defraud" and the "intentionally or knowingly" elements as this was the way that the registrar�s office had always done things and we do not have any information that the VR had an intent to eith harm, defraud, or benefit anyone.

Secretary of States take on this issue:
Here is the "help" that the SOS offered. I spoke to an attorney in the elections division of the SOS and was given an answer that matched our take. After we were about to dismiss the case, the Texas Ranger told us that he had also talked to an SOS attorney and was given a different answer. I called the SOS attorney that the ranger had talked to and he confirmed that he had told the ranger that even though chapter 13 of the election code was titled Initial Registration, that he believed that it did apply to replacement cards. A third SOS attorney then called my boss and said that he regretted the fact that our office had been given conflicting answers, but that the issue was not black and white and was best left to the courts to decide.

What we did:
We went with our take on it and dismissed the case. I would appreciate any comments on this issue as it is far from over in our community and will likely be revisited soon.

Some questions:
Is 13.145 EC, limited to the initial registration certificates? Why or why not?

Is there another offense that should be considered? Which one(s) and why?

Who is the proper accused? The deputy VR who was trained to do things the way they were doing things, the Chief VR in charge of the supervision of the office, or the actual elected VR( in this county, the sheriff is also the tax assessor/collector and the voter registrar)? It appears that the Voter Registrar�s office has always done things this way and that adequate training was not in place as there were several other problems with the administrative procedures in many other areas such as 15.004 EC (replacement certificate) not being followed. It does not look like the office was following the suspense list requirements (15.081-15.085 EC) either� this issue will be the subject of another post.