State Rep. Art Fierro asks appellate court to rule Claudia Ordaz Perez ineligible to

State Rep. Art Fierro, D-El Paso, wants an appellate court to rule that fellow state Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez, D-El Paso, is ineligible to run for his Texas House District 79 seat in the March 1 Democratic primary.

Fierro claims Ordaz Perez will not have resided in District 79 for the required one year prior to the Nov. 8 general election and six months before the Dec. 13, 2021, filing deadline.

Ordaz Perez’s current Texas House District 76 seat was drawn out of the new state legislative boundaries the Texas Legislature approved this fall. Her then-address became part of the redrawn Texas House District 77, held by state Rep. Lina Ortega, D-El Paso.

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Rather than challenge Ortega, Ordaz Perez moved to a home in District 79 so she could run against Fierro. She changed her voter registration on Oct. 12, 2021, to that new address.

No other Democratic or Republican candidates filed for the District 79 seat.

Fierro, in his initial petition to the state’s 8th Court of Appeals, argues Ordaz Perez is days short of meeting the one-year residency requirement for Texas of House Representatives candidates because it takes 30 days for a change of residence to take effect. Fierro is seeking a legal action known as a writ of mandamus, where an appeals court compels a public official — in this case El Paso County Democratic Party Chair Dora Oaxaca — to properly fulfill their duty.

But Oaxaca’s attorney, John Mobbs, disputed that argument. Fierro named Oaxaca in his petition because she did not declare Ordaz Perez’s candidacy ineligible, as he requested of her two days after the filing deadline.

“Fierro simply has it backwards,” Mobb’s filing states. “A person’s qualification to vote follows their residency, it does not establish their residence.”

“It is legally established that voter registration and voting records do not conclusively prove a candidate’s residence for purposes of evaluating eligibility for office,” the filing notes. “Moreover, the fact that a change to a voting registration record is not immediately effective does not establish that the voter is not a resident at their new address until the effective date of that change.”

The six-month residency requirement Fierro cites does not apply to candidates for state representative, Mobbs said.

Fierro has asked the El Paso-based 8th Court of Appeals to issue a ruling by Jan. 12, the deadline for finalizing ballots. Early voting for the March primaries begins Feb. 14.

Fierro is seeking to have his attorneys make oral arguments before the panel of appellate justices who will hear the case, though Mobbs, who is representing both Oaxaca, noted in his filing that oral arguments are unnecessary.

No hearings have been scheduled in the case, according to online court records. The three justices on the El Paso-based 8th Court of Appeals said they will issue a ruling by Jan. 12.