Court TRO Forced LULAC To Suspend Elections For 10-days During The 85th National Convention

Roger Rocha Jr. and Maggie Rivera

Across the board elections suspended for ten-days after a LULAC group was granted a TRO.

By H. Nelson Goodson

July 13, 2014

New York, New York - On Saturday, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) was forced to cancel its membership elections after a TRO was granted to a LULAC Council opposing the elections. The elections were cancelled for ten-days until the issue gets resolved.

The LULAC membership was set to elect their National President at the 85th National Convention in New York City over the weekend. Members from around the country attending the convention were ready to vote when the elections were unexpectedly suspended. 

In a news release LULAC stated, "On the final day of the convention, the elections were postponed due to a court order. While the organization vigorously disputes the plaintiff's tactic in obtaining such an order without prior notice to LULAC, the organization's leadership had no choice but to comply with the order and to pursue legal remedies moving forward." 

At least 20,000 attended the convention.

In previous years, controversy has tainted LULAC elections, procedures and rules in electing its membership to leadership roles.

Maggie Rivera from Crystal Lake, Illinois and Roger Rocha Jr. from Laredo, Texas are candidates for National LULAC President. An estimated 1,625 delegates were present at the election assembly on Saturday. Rivera apparently had about 60% of the votes to get her elected as National President for LULAC, but the election was postponed by Luis Vera, the designated Election judge by the outgoing National LULAC President Margaret Moran. Moran and Vera are accused of supporting Rocha and keeping Rivera from being elected, according to some of Rivera's delegates at the convention.