Mansfield ISD will allow an ineligible candidate to remain on the ballot for the May 4 election.
Angel Hidalgo, a professor at Tarrant County College, has faced questions regarding his eligibility throughout the election, and employees and school board members knew for months that Hidalgo was likely ineligible, according to the Star-Telegram.
During a special meeting April 18, the school board ruled Hidalgo ineligible because he was not a registered voter of Mansfield ISD by the filing deadline of Feb. 16, 2024. However, Mansfield ISD will not remove Hidalgo from the ballot, stating that “the statutory deadline to remove an ineligible candidate from the ballot was Feb. 24, 2024.”
Candidates have to be registered to vote in the territory where they are elected, according to the Texas Election Code.
All votes in the election will be counted. If Hidalgo wins, the spot will remain vacant, and board members may appoint a replacement until the next trustee election or order a special election to fill the vacancy, according to a statement from Board President Courtney Lackey Wilson on the district’s Facebook page.
Hidalgo’s opponent, Jandel Crutchfield, associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, is deemed eligible to run for the Place 2 seat. Trustee Desiree Thomas initially filed for reelection but later announced on Facebook her withdrawal because of family-related health issues.
Mansfield ISD voter Angela Perdue said at the special meeting that the board is setting a precedent in its handling of the Place 2 race and expressed her disappointment that trustees didn’t act sooner to remove Hidalgo from the ballot.
“Unbelievable — that’s what this whole parade has been,” Perdue told the board. “This entire carnival of crazy.”
In addition to two available school board trustee spots, Mansfield ISD voters will also decide on a $777 million bond focusing on upgrading school facilities, renovating stadiums and improving fine arts education. At the meeting, multiple speakers expressed they would not vote to approve the bond because of their distrust of the district.
The election is May 4. Early voting begins April 22 and ends April 30. Polling places can be found here.
Dang Le is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org or @DangHLe. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
