Secretary of State Confirms Minimum Signatures Needed for Tax Rollback Petition Calculated Incorrectly by Maverick County

January 24, 2017

Mr. Roy Schmerber
Maverick County Elections Administrator
370 N. Monroe Street
Eagle Pass, TX 78852

Dear Mr. Schmerber:

On December 14, 2016, the Maverick County Elections Office provided a copy of the registered voter roll showing 30,846 registered voters, of which 3,067 were marked with “S” for Suspense. 

On January 9, 2017, the Maverick County Elections Office calculated 7% of 30,942 to arrive at the 2,166 figure identified as the minimum number of signatures needed for the Tax Rate Rollback Petition to be valid.  Maverick County Commissioners Court utilized this 2,166 figure as the basis for a resolution on January 9, 2017 concluding that the Tax Rate Rollback Petition was invalid because the Maverick County Elections Office had certified the validity of 2,067 Petition signatures which was less than 2,166. 

Texas Election Code Section 277.0024 says “If the minimum number of signatures required for a petition is determined by a computation applied to the number of registered voters of a particular territory, voters whose names appear on the list of registered voters with the notation “S”, or a similar notation, shall be excluded from the computation.”

Attached is a copy of communication from the Texas Secretary of State’s Election Division confirming that the correct application of Texas Election Code Section 277.0024 to a petition (an election petition filed under Texas Tax Code) requiring a minimum of 7% of the number of registered voters results in the number of petition signatures being correctly computed by multiplying 7% x 27,779 (30,846-3,067) to arrive at 1,945 as the minimum number of signatures needed with respect to registered voter roll information as of December 14, 2016. 

The County Elections Office’s calculation for the resolution erroneously failed to first reduce the 30,942 number of registered voters it used by the 3,067 of these voters marked with “S” as required by Section 277.0024 of the Election Code before multiplying by 7%, and as a result the 2,166 figure provided as the minimum number of signatures needed for the Rollback Petition to be valid is incorrect.

I ask that the Elections Office send Commissioners Court and the County Clerk written notice that the 2,166 figure identified by the Elections Office on January 9, 2017 was not calculated in compliance with Section 277.0024 of the Texas Election Code, that the January 9, 2017 resolution accordingly contains erroneous information and an incorrect conclusion requiring that the resolution be rescinded or considered void, that the minimum number of signatures needed for the Tax Rate Rollback Petition to be valid is reduced to 1,945 (or 1,952 at 30,942 starting number used by Elections Office) which your office has already certified was exceeded with 2,067 valid signatures, and that a Tax Rate Rollback Election should be held as a result of rescinding or voiding of the January 9, 2017 resolution or as a result of the Petition exceeding the correct minimum number of signatures required to be valid.  I also ask for a copy of this written notice.

Ethelvina I. Felan
Maverick County Taxpayer