Fernando Juarez will remain on the ballot for the May 26 Precinct 2 county commissioner race against Jesus “Junie” Herrera even though he withdrew from the race last week after discovering it is prohibited by law for a federal law enforcement employee to run for a partisan office.
Presidio County Clerk Carolina Cataño said the ballots had already been printed. She said she consulted with the Texas Secretary of State’s office, which told her Juarez would be disqualified from taking office if he won the election.
Herrera defeated Juarez in the March primary 211-167, but since neither candidate achieved more than 50% of the votes (with incumbent Margarito Hernandez also in the race), the two were set for a runoff. Juarez, who serves on the Presidio City Council, is married to the new Presidio County Democratic Party chair, Irma Juarez. Precinct 2 covers a large swath of southern and central Presidio.
In the event Juarez wins the runoff, he would have to resign from the candidacy, which would leave a vacant seat. The process would then be for both the county Republican Party and Democratic chairs to select a candidate to go on the November general election ballot, Cataño said. She said that placement would be optional for the Republican Party, which traditionally doesn’t win any local races. That could put Irma Juarez in a position of helping decide on the Democratic candidate.
Irma Juarez said Tuesday that she isn’t officially the party chair until June and she has removed herself from the process up to this point.
Fernando Juarez said that when he first ran for the seat in the Democratic primary he was not employed by the federal government. A retired Border Patrol officer, he went back to work with the Homeland Security Investigations and didn’t realize that the U.S. Hatch Act does not allow federal officers to run in partisan races, including for Commissioners Court.
Since statewide runoffs are on the ballot, early voting also will take place in Marfa. Early voting begins Monday, May 18 and runs through Friday, May 22, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Presidio County Annex at 300 E. O’Reilly St. in Presidio and the Marfa Visitor’s Center, 302 S Highland Ave. in Marfa. Voters can vote at either location, regardless of their voting precinct.
On election day, Tuesday, May 26, the polls will be open at both locations from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For that day, voters in precincts 2, 3 and 4 must vote in Presidio, while those in precincts 1 and 7 must vote in Marfa.