Val Verde County officials dispute report of state voter registration takeover

Val Verde County voters do not appear to face a new registration process before the next election, even as county leaders push back on claims that the state has taken over local voter registration. At Wednesday’s commissioners court meeting, Elodia “Loly” Garcia and County Clerk Teresa Esther Chapoy said the county remains in charge and that the state’s role is limited to administrative oversight tied to audit findings.

County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. pressed for a clear answer on whether Val Verde County was under state control. Garcia said it was not. Chapoy rejected the newspaper’s framing as wrong and said the county was still waiting for the state’s final report, which she said could come in August.

That distinction matters in Del Rio and across Val Verde County because the county’s elections page says the County Clerk’s Office administers elections, while the County Tax Assessor serves as the county’s voter registrar. Residents still deal with those local offices for election administration and voter registration, which is why the fight centers on those two departments rather than the full county government.

The state’s audit program lists Val Verde County among the four counties selected in the Aug. 12, 2024 drawing for the 2023-2024 audit cycle, alongside Bell, Brazoria and Real counties. The Texas Secretary of State’s preliminary report says the review covered the 2023-2024 audit period and focused on the Nov. 5, 2024 general election after an extensive analysis of election records and interviews with county election officials.

The dispute followed a June 12 report saying Texas was using a 2023 law, originally aimed at Harris County, to place Val Verde County under administrative oversight of voter registration. That report said the county had about 30,000 registered voters and that state officials found repeated failures to keep voter-registration records accurate despite on-site training and help from Secretary of State officials. The preliminary findings also described a recurring pattern of problems that impeded the free exercise of voting rights.

Local officials are trying to make one point clear: the county says it is still running the process while it works through the audit. For Val Verde County voters, the practical stakes are accuracy on the rolls, correct precinct boundaries and confidence that election-day operations still reflect local control.