|
Birdwell Calls Reports He Voted Twice In 2004 Inaccurate
Newly elected State Sen. Brian Birdwell Wednesday issued a statement denying that he ever voted twice in the same election and calling reports that he voted in both Texas and Virginia in 2004 inaccurate.
|
Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury (File photo)
|
14 Comments 
WACO (July 28, 2010)—Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, issued a statement Wednesday in which he flatly denied voting both in Texas and Virginia in the November 2004 presidential election, which would be a 3rd Degree felony in Texas.
The Texas Tribune reported Wednesday that documents from Virginia and Texas show that Birdwell cast ballots in both states that year, but Birdwell called the reports inaccurate and said they “contain false information.”
“I have never, ever voted twice in the same election, and that charge is particularly offensive to a soldier who holds the voting process as honored and sacred,” he said.
“Basically, this news story would have people believe that on Election Day in 2004, I voted in Virginia, then got on a plane and flew to Texas so I could cast a second vote for George W. Bush,” he said.
“I did not.”
An election document from Virginia shows that Birdwell voted on Nov. 2, 2004 in Prince William County and Birdwell’s Tarrant County voting history shows that he voted there on the same day.
Birdwell, whose full name is Brian Douglas Birdwell, said he thinks a poll worker mistakenly checked off his name when his brother, Douglas Todd Birdwell, voted on Nov. 2, 2004.
“My brother knows that he did vote in the general election in 2004, but the reports indicate that he did not,” Birdwell said.
Douglas Todd Birdwell’s voter registration shows his address as 307 Byron St. in Fort Worth, the same address that Brian Birdwell’s Tarrant County voting history record displays.
“The truth is that, despite the implication that today's story presents 'new' information, this false claim concerning my voting record was presented to the Texas Secretary of State nearly four months ago when my candidacy was initially challenged, then certified,” Birdwell said.
“The allegation was false then and it's false now."
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst came to Birdwell’s defense Wednesday, saying that rumors regarding Birdwell’s residency surfaced during the special runoff race to fill the vacant seat of former Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco.
“I asked my staff and several outside parties to review the documents, and it's clear to me that Senator Brian Birdwell is a Texas resident,” Dewhurst said I a statement that didn’t address the voting claim.
Birdwell defeated former State Sen. David Sibley of Waco by nearly 4,000 votes last month in the runoff race for Averitt’s unexpired term.
Averitt resigned from the State Senate earlier this year and then removed his name from the November ballot after the June runoff.
Last week, Republican Party officials from the senate district’s counties unanimously nominated Birdwell to the November ballot.
Birdwell, a Bronze Star winner and a survivor of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, is a Texas native who graduated in 1984 from Lamar University in Beaumont.
Democrats could also name a candidate, but decided at the state convention in June to wait until Republicans named their nominee.
McLennan County Democratic Party Chair Karen Petree said Friday evening no date has been set for an executive committee meeting to determine whether to nominate a candidate for the November ballot.
She said Wednesday the party is also considering whether to challenge Birdwell’s residency.
Latest Comments
I know Brian Birdwell. There is NO WAY that this man voted twice in the same election. The Tarrant County Elections Department shows that he voted in the 2004 presidential election, but that is not proof that he did so. When somebody votes, he signs a Combination Form, the election clerk makes a notation next to the voter's name in the poll list, and after the election is over an employee of the Elections Department goes through the poll list and updates the voter history in the computer for every person who the election clerks say voted in that election. But if the election clerk at the polling place accidentally marked Birdwell as having voted instead of his neighbor on the poll list, or if the Elections Department employee mistakenly updated Birdwell's voter history instead of somebody else's, that would explain how Birdwell was shown to have voted in that election when he did not do so. So YES, I’m saying that somebody was inept at their job, YES.
This makes me sick reading all the garbage by Dumcrats. He would fly bck to Texas to vote again. What a crock
So democrats would have us believe that 3 years after being engulfed in flames on 9/11, nearly dying, enduring "40" operations, that voting in two states on the same day was the most important thing on his mind? Give me a break!!!
