There are strange goings on in the elections in Loving County in West Texas, and none of the possible explanations are good, according to a recent complaint by an election integrity watchdog.
The complaint, filed by Ian Camacho, a Texas-based election integrity activist, centers on the actions of Loving County Judge Skeet Lee Jones.
“Mr. Jones was either in violation of the Texas State Constitution and Commission on Judicial Conduct’s suspension for signing off as county judge given his suspension, OR he was in violation of the Texas Election Code by signing off as the Democratic Party’s County Chair while holding a judge’s position. This would appear to be falsification of documents either way and a violation of the law,” the complaint filed with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct (SCJC) said.
The trouble started when Jones allegedly signed off on numerous official election documents in February and twice in March of 2024. At the time, Jones had been suspended without pay from his position since October 27, 2023, according to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s website.
His suspension was due to an unspecified “Pending Criminal Matter,” state documents reveal. However, contemporaneous news reporting indicates he was indicted for cattle rustling across county lines. Jones and three other men reportedly rustled $150,000 worth of cattle in November 2021, and a criminal indictment was brought almost exactly two years later.
While suspended, Jones signed off as County Judge on the February Loving County Joint Resolution and Statistical Information for Joint Primary. According to the complaint, “This action would be in gross violation of Article 5, Section 1-a(6)A of the Texas Constitution, and also appears to be in violation of Rule 15(a) of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, in which he was suspended from his position.”
Jones also signed off as County Judge on the Democratic Party’s March notice of Primary Election and on a later Spanish-language version of the notice.
However, these are not the only issues the complaint raised.
“Furthermore, he would not have been eligible to sign off as the Democratic Party County Chair, even if assigned as a temporary position, as he also claims to hold a county-level position as county judge, and one cannot hold both a political party county chair and hold an elective county government office under Texas Election Code 161.005(a)(1) and 161.005(a-1)(2),” the complaint reads, raising questions about both a conflict of interest and a potential violation of law.
At its conclusion, the complaint challenges the legality of the Democrat primary elections Jones authorized.
“Given that the Democratic Party of Loving County failed to fill its county chair according to Texas Election Codes 171.024 and 171.025, then it would also appear that the two candidates who ran in the 2024 Democratic Party primary race in Loving County did so illegally as there was no Democratic Party Chair or secretary under which they could legally file for legal party authority, as Mr. Jones appears to have illegally signed off on it as judge or county chair, and this was required to be present in order for candidates to run on a local and county level,” the complaint says.
This would call into question the legal legitimacy of Harlan Hopper’s candidacy for County Commissioner, Precinct 1, and candidate Chris H. Busse’s nomination for Sheriff and Tax Assessor-Collector because they did not file with the proper party authority if Jones was exercising ultra vires authority.
The judge remains in his position because he has not resigned and because the legal mechanisms required to discharge him from office cannot act without a conviction.
“County judges … may be removed by the Judges of the District Courts for incompetency, official misconduct, habitual drunkenness, or other causes defined by law, upon the cause therefore being set forth in writing and the finding of its truth by a jury,” the state constitution says.
However, it may be difficult to replace Jones. According to the 2020 Census, Loving County is only populated by 64 people. Moreover, state law requires County Judges to be residents of the County they serve for at least two years prior to holding office, in addition to holding a law degree and other requirements.
Camacho shared documents with The Dallas Express indicating that he mailed the complaint to the SCJC on April 5 via United States Postal Service certified mail. The complaint was signed for and received by the SCJC’s P.O. Box on April 9.
However, Camacho claims that on August 1, the administrative assistant who answered the phones for SCJC’s office claimed that the office had never received it. DX contacted SCJC and Jones for comment. Jones did not respond prior to publication and SCJC said they would not comment on the case and they did not address a question about whether they had received the complaint.
Jones has been the subject of judicial discipline before. A judge publicly warned Jones in 2016 and ordered him to 10 hours of additional education due to a list of 25 complaints accusing him of “[failing] to comply with the law and/or fail[ing] to maintain professional competence in the law” by upholding parking tickets issued without sufficient evidence and issuing fines “in excess of amounts allowed by law.”
