Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, strongly denied voting in two states in the 2004 presidential election, correcting what he called “inaccurate news reports which contain false information concerning my voting record.”

Birdwell said in a statement that he voted in Virginia, where he owned a home, but not in Texas, where he had maintained a voting address while serving in the military.

He argued Tarrant County’s voting registration documents mixed up his name with that of his brother, a scenario the county’s elections administrator described as plausible.

Birdwell was responding to a story by the Austin-based Texas Tribune, which ran Wednesday in the Tribune-Herald and the Austin American-Statesman.

The Texas Tribune said Birdwell ignored its request for an interview before the story ran and that it included in full a response sent by Birdwell’s legislative office.

Voting twice in an election is a third-degree felony in Texas.

Birdwell’s full name is Brian Douglas Birdwell. His younger brother is Douglas Todd Birdwell.

Beyond the similarity of the two men’s names, Brian Birdwell’s statement called the Tarrant County record questionable because it shows him voting on Election Day in Texas on the same day he said he cast a ballot in Virginia.

“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,” Birdwell said. “I did not.”

Steve Raborn, Tarrant County elections administrator, said a mistake with the county’s records was conceivable, particularly because Birdwell and his brother both listed their parents’ Fort Worth home as their address for the purposes of the 2004 election.

That means they would have been registered to vote at the same polling place, Raborn said.

The county’s voting record is constructed in part by reviewing signature sheets.

A sheet includes lines ordered alphabetically for all the voters in a given polling place. Raborn said the Birdwell brothers’ names likely would have been on consecutive lines or very near to each other, making a mix-up probable.

Douglas Todd Birdwell was a regular voter dating from 1994 to today, he added, but there was no record of him voting in 2004, which also could be explained by a scenario in which Douglas Todd Birdwell signed his name to his brother’s line on a signature sheet.

Birdwell’s statement said Douglas Todd Birdwell was confident that he voted in Tarrant County in the 2004 general election.

The signature sheets from the election have been tossed, however, Raborn said.

Counties are required to hold on to the sheets for 22 months, and if a discrepancy isn’t remedied in that time period, it becomes part of the permanent voting record.

Birdwell has acknowledged voting in Virginia from 2004-06.

His political opponents and potential opponents from the Democratic Party have said his 2006 vote makes him legally ineligible for the Senate seat.

Texas’ Constitution requires senators to live in the state for at least five years.

The senator and lawyers hired by his campaign have argued it is enough that Birdwell intended to move back to Texas, where he grew up.

They note that he incorporated his ministry to the state in 2003 and purchased a lot in Granbury in 2005.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

757-5707

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