Loving County’s lengthy historical past of rancorous politics has generated allegations of voter fraud relationship to the Nineteen Forties, however a new state regulation and annoyed native officers have put the county’s out-of-town voters in the crosshairs. Renteria is now below investigation by the state lawyer common’s workplace. A justice of the peace not too long ago ordered him and three different individuals who confirmed up for jury responsibility hauled off to jail for allegedly not residing in the county.
Renteria, the descendant of a longtime farming household, owns a ranch with a 2,500-square-foot dwelling in neighboring Reeves County, about a half-hour drive away. Since a minimum of 2011, when he grew to become a commissioner in Loving County, he has claimed a homestead exemption on the house in Reeves County — a tax break afforded to Texas taxpayers on their “principal residences,” data present.
Texas election code requires candidates for commissioner to constantly reside in the county they plan to symbolize for a minimum of six months earlier than they file to run for workplace. Applications are submitted below oath, with the potential penalty of perjury.
The sheriff mentioned somebody (not him) filed a grievance with the Texas lawyer common’s workplace saying Renteria doesn’t dwell in Loving County. NBC News filed a public information request looking for a copy of the grievance from the lawyer common’s workplace, however officers withheld it, citing “an active criminal investigation being conducted by the OAG’s Criminal Investigations Division.”
Renteria, 61, declined to talk with a reporter and didn’t reply to written questions. His lawyer didn’t return telephone calls.
For generations, descendants of politically highly effective households have solid their ballots right here, regardless of having moved away many years in the past in search of different alternatives. They have chased their goals to massive cities like Amarillo, Lubbock and Odessa, constructing careers and elevating households lots of of miles from this county’s solely city, Mentone, inhabitants 22.
In the March main election, 1 in 5 voters in Loving County had homestead exemptions elsewhere in Texas, an NBC News evaluation of tax and voter data exhibits.
It’s a bitter capsule for some who dwell in Loving County, the place there’s no college, no grocery store, no financial institution and no barber.
Busse, a 22-year Air Force veteran, mentioned it’s straightforward to select unfamiliar faces on the previous courthouse on election days. “They have a voter card,” he mentioned. “But the only time you see them is when it’s time to vote or at the annual Christmas party.”
For years, Busse mentioned, there wasn’t a lot he may do about voters who didn’t really dwell in the county. Texas voter residency regulation was free, permitting individuals to vote in locations they didn’t dwell however supposed to return to sometime, as long as that they had houses there.
Then, final yr, in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen, the Texas Legislature handed a regulation that tightened the definition of residency for voter registration. Known as SB 1111, the brand new regulation — efficient Sept. 1, 2021 — says individuals can use “previous residences” to register to vote provided that they’re residing there on the time and plan to remain there. But it left in a fuzzy provision that permits individuals to vote in locations they intend to return to — making the measure’s affect as cloudy because the brackish waters of the Pecos River.
Under the regulation, voter registrars can ship out tackle affirmation playing cards to individuals they believe don’t dwell in their counties, requiring them to affirm their addresses below oath earlier than they will vote once more.
That’s what Busse did in Loving County in June, mailing out 44 playing cards — to just about half of the county’s registered voters — requiring them to say the place they dwell, with a potential penalty of perjury. Some individuals have taken it as a “personal attack” and accused Busse of misinterpreting the regulation, however he mentioned his solely objective is to observe it.
The prison investigation into Renteria and Busse’s push to crack down on out-of-town voters have added recent hay to an already smoldering political firestorm heading into the November election. Renteria, who’s dealing with his first opponent since he took workplace greater than a decade in the past, is intently aligned with the reigning political household, the Joneses, who face their very own challenges.
In May, Judge Skeet Jones, 71, probably the most highly effective politician in the county, was arrested on felony expenses of cattle rustling and interesting in organized crime. Three ranch palms had been arrested as properly; not one of the 4 males has but been indicted. Jones, who’s operating unopposed this fall, declined to remark. His lawyer didn’t return calls.
Some of the politics taking part in out now date again to long-standing bitter rivalries between the Joneses and different distinguished households. Adding to the tensions, newer residents seen as “outsiders” have been agitating for modifications in how the county is run. And the politics have turned private: Members of the Jones household are operating towards one another for county clerk.
Top elected official in Loving County was charged with cattle theft
- Judge Skeet Jones, the scion of a highly effective ranching household, was arrested in May after a yearlong investigation.
- He was charged with livestock theft and interesting in prison exercise, accused of gathering up and promoting stray cattle.
- Authorities mentioned the investigation was ongoing.
“Everybody says politics is a blood sport,” mentioned Steve Simonsen, the county lawyer. “Well, here it is.”
‘That’s gonna weed out some voters’
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Harris County who sponsored SB 1111, mentioned the regulation’s intent was easy: “to get people to register where they live.” But it was additionally restricted in scope.
Bettencourt launched the laws after he mentioned he realized that about 4,800 voters in Harris County had registered to vote utilizing UPS retailer P.O. packing containers as their addresses. He needed to remove using “impossible,” uninhabitable addresses.
The regulation additionally states that nobody can use a earlier residence to register to vote “unless the person inhabits the place at the time of designation and intends to remain.”
When Busse learn the regulation, he thought, “Well, that’s gonna weed out some voters in the county, because you can’t continue to claim a residence in another city and then come out here and vote,” he mentioned.
But he had questions on how one can implement the brand new regulation as voter registrar, so he known as up the Texas secretary of state’s workplace and spoke with Keith Ingram, the Elections Division director. Ingram’s workplace fields complaints about election regulation violations and may refer them to the lawyer common’s workplace for prison prosecution. Punishment is uncommon: The lawyer common’s workplace has efficiently prosecuted solely about 155 individuals for election fraud offenses since 2005.
Ingram advised NBC News that Busse requested about a few eventualities in Loving County, together with a derelict cell dwelling “that nobody lives at, nobody visits, doesn’t have utilities.”
“And people are claiming that as their residence for voting purposes,” he mentioned.
Ingram mentioned that below SB 1111, it’s fairly clear that “if people don’t inhabit their mobile home, they shouldn’t be allowed to use it for voter registration.”
Busse additionally requested Ingram about voters he sees solely a couple of times a yr. Ingram’s reply wasn’t what Busse anticipated. While the brand new regulation requires individuals to inhabit the houses the place they registered to vote, it additionally nonetheless consists of an earlier provision that permits individuals to register at houses that they “intend to return to,” Ingram mentioned.
If individuals have property in Loving County and return a couple of times a yr and spend a few days there, Ingram mentioned, “I think, arguably, they inhabit that location, and they can claim it as a residence.”
Busse mentioned he heard a key phrase in Ingram’s rationalization — “arguably” — and concluded that the regulation isn’t fully clear.
Ingram additionally advised Busse that somebody who largely lives elsewhere for many years may think about that a “temporary absence.”
“‘Temporary’ can be the 30 years of my legal career if I intend to retire back where I grew up,” he mentioned. “And I go visit a week every summer or a week in the fall, every year. Then I think that ‘temporary’ is in the eyes of the beholder at that point.”
Ingram mentioned that if a shut election resulted in a courtroom problem, it might be up to a decide to resolve whether or not particular person voters met residency necessities.
Otherwise, Busse’s energy as registrar was restricted, Ingram advised him.
After the March main election, Busse known as Ingram again, annoyed. The commissioner’s race in Busse’s district, Precinct 4, had come right down to an 8-5 vote.
“Three of the votes that were cast were by people who don’t live in the county. They all three live in Kermit, Texas,” greater than 30 miles from Mentone, he mentioned.
He preferred each candidates, however he was upset. “That’s a situation where my vote did not count,” he mentioned.
Ingram mentioned there was no method to problem the election outcomes wanting a lawsuit filed in District Court.
But there was one factor Busse may do: ship out voter registration tackle affirmation playing cards. If voters don’t reply inside 30 days, they are positioned on “suspense,” which implies they will’t vote once more with out making sworn statements about their residences. Someone who lies on the cardboard will be prosecuted for making a false assertion (a misdemeanor) and swearing to it below oath (a felony). The most sentence for the misdemeanor is up to a yr in jail; the felony ranges up to 2 years.
In June, Busse mentioned he and a member of the voter registrar employees drew up a record of everybody on the voter rolls they suspected doesn’t really dwell in Loving County. They checked out voters who used put up workplace packing containers in different locations. They additionally relied on their very own “personal knowledge” of the place individuals really dwell and work, Busse mentioned. The 44 playing cards they despatched out are now trickling again into the workplace.