Mineral Wells Area News

By Amy Bearden / Mineral Wells Area News

Palo Pinto County Conservatives, Grass Roots Mineral Wells PAC, and Johanna Miller filed a lawsuit against Palo Pinto County in Federal Court on April 16th seeking a temporary restraining order and the reversal of a newly adopted County “electioneering order” which was passed unanimously by the County Commissioner’s Court.

Plaintiff Miller and the organizations she represents brought civil action for injunctive relief against defendants Palo Pinto County Judge Shane Long, Commissioners Gary Glover, Mike Reed, Jim Pollock, and Jeff Fryer for infringement of their First Amendment Rights after the County adopted the electioneering order on April 8th.

The suit was submitted by Attorney Tony McDonald of Fort Worth and states,“Defendant Palo Pinto County’s adoption of the Electioneering Order has deprived and will
continue to deprive Plaintiffs of their fundamental rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Because of the risk of prosecution of Plaintiffs for their engaging in constitutionally protected speech and expressive conduct, these ordinances are having a chilling effect on Plaintiffs’ further speech and expressive conduct. Money damages cannot adequately compensate for these constitutional injuries and, absent injunctive relief, the injuries will be irreparable. Accordingly, appropriate preliminary and permanent injunctive relief is necessary.”

On Friday April 19th, United States District Judge Terry Means reviewed the request and denied the Plaintiff’s request for a temporary restraining order to repeal the electioneering parameters and set a hearing for Thursday April 25th at 10am in Fort Worth.

At the conclusion of the April 22nd regular County Commissioner’s Meeting, the Court moved into Executive Session and authorized County Attorney Maegan Kostiha to seek outside counsel to respond to the complaint.

“Our County Attorney cannot argue cases in Federal Court for the lawsuit filed against the Commissioner’s Court,” said a County official. “The action taken was to approve the County Attorney to seek outside counsel to represent the Commissioners Court in Federal District Court. Funds will be paid out of the County’s legal expense line item.”

The County drafted the new electioneering order after receiving calls from multiple attorneys, hearing some complaints of voter intimidation, and some potential inappropriate electioneering at the County Annex during the March 5th primary election.

At a meeting of the Court on April 8th, Commissioners considered adopting new rules to protect the integrity of elections and County property. The Court allowed for an hour of public comments on the newly drafted order before tabling the vote for an afternoon session later that day to consider all opinions in the matter.

Commissioners eventually voted unanimously to approve the new order that ultimately restricts where electioneering can occur as well as the number of signs that can be posted at the County Annex during voting periods.

The order was immediately enacted and intended to protect the polling places at the County Annex where early voting kicks off April 22nd for the City Council and local School Board elections set for May 4th.

The County Annex is not just a polling place, but also serves as a business office for the County. The new order was also designed to help people coming to the Annex to conduct official business to continue to do so during election periods. The County has placed temporary parking signs in the lot indicating where residents conducting County business should park.

The public parking lot, which is on the West side of the County Annex building, is divided into three lanes. The new rules establish an “electioneering zone” in the areas beyond 100 Feet in the North and South lanes of the parking lot. The middle lane section of the West parking lot prohibits electioneering.

Mineral Wells Area News will follow up after the Federal hearing is held on Thursday April 25th.