Drawing Set for May 2 Ballot Order in Val Verde Hospital Election

Val Verde County posted a bilingual “Notice of Drawing for a Place on Ballot” tied to the May 2, 2026 Val Verde County Hospital District (Val Verde Regional Medical Center) board election, but the county’s postings show conflicting dates for the drawing that will set candidate name order. One county posting fragment lists the drawing at 5:15 on “Mon. Feb. 23 26” at the SFDRCISD SPC Training Room - 315 Griner St., Del Rio, and names Sandra T. Hernandez in proximity to the officer field; other material indicates a drawing scheduled Feb. 19, 2026.

The county’s bilingual form follows the Secretary of State prescribed format 3-1 and cites Sections 52.094, 172.082 and 172.084 of the Texas Election Code. The template text included in the posting states the purpose plainly as a “drawing to determine the order in which the names of candidates are to be printed on the ballot,” a step election officials use to finalize printed ballots for the May 2 election.

The SFDRCISD SPC Training Room address appears on the posted fragment as the listed location: 315 Griner St., Del Rio. That fragment includes the strings “Saturday, May 2 26” for the election date and “5:15 Mon. Feb. 23 26” for the drawing appointment, but the fragment omits an explicit a.m. or p.m. designation. The mixed-format posting also contains Spanish-language template lines and repeats the city name Del Rio and the name Sandra T. Hernandez adjacent to the location lines; the fragment does not label Hernandez’s title.

Candidate-filing activity logged by local reporting shows multiple county offices already shaping up for the March 2026 Democratic primaries and November matchups. Incumbent Val Verde County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez filed for the March 2026 Democratic primary seeking re-election; Rose M. Castro filed an application after him and listed her occupation on the application as “greeting clerk.” Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. filed on the first day of filing for the Democratic primary and faces a primary opponent in former Del Rio Mayor Bruno J. Lozano, who listed his occupation as “flight attendant.” The winner of that Democratic contest is set to face Republican Robert Beau Nettleton, the former Precinct 3 county commissioner, in November.

Countywide filings also show Val Verde County Treasurer Aaron D. Rodriguez and Val Verde County Surveyor Abner Martinez filed to seek re-election on the Democratic primary ballot; Rodriguez has drawn a Republican opponent, Michelle Fagan, while no Republican filed for county surveyor. Val Verde County Court-At-Law Judge Sergio J. Gonzalez is listed as running unopposed in both the March 2026 Democratic primary and the November general election. A separate filing fragment names Val Verde County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores in connection with an application related to Val Verde County District Clerk, but that snippet is truncated and requires confirmation.

The discrepancy in drawing dates and the lack of an explicit a.m./p.m. on the posted fragment leave the official drawing schedule unresolved. The drawing controls how candidate names will appear on ballots for the May 2, 2026 hospital district board election; county election officials will need to confirm the final drawing date, time, location and the officer conducting the drawing so ballots can be finalized.