EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — An online vote to name a park posthumously after one of two people is dividing the Village of Vinton.
The Village of Vinton wanted residents to vote on whether to name the park, on Kelly Road, either Coach Jose Medel Park or Sgt. Alfredo Martinez Park.
Instead, the vote has split the Village which has erupted into a war of words, a viral Instagram post and allegations of vote tampering.
In the first days of the voting, Medel jumped out to an early lead. Then, came a post on the popular online Instgram site FitFam, which heavily featured Martinez’s story and image.
That post was liked more than 11,000 times and shared by 400 people.
After the post, votes came in the thousands and with it controversy.
Sources told KTSM that the Martinez family had paid FitFam for the post.
FitFam, however, said that “we were not paid anything for the post, nor was that ever brought up.”
FitFam did say that they were asked to post about Martinez from his family.
Votes started to roll in, not just from the El Paso area, but from all over — with more than 50,000 and counting.
Now, allegations have surfaced that a lack of security measures have allowed the online voting site to be hacked, sending more votes to Martinez.
FitFam told KTSM that they didn’t know anything about hacking, but did say the vote “was open to the public and had no limits or bars to participation.”
We reached out to three members of the Martinez family and all declined to be interviewed.
Meanwhile, the Medel family is feeling frustrated.
“Not just myself but my family, we’ve been really torn about the process and the way it’s played out and kind of how it’s shifted into outside of the Vinton community. It’s shifted to a popularity contest,” one member of the Medel family said.
“The security measures posted on the site, it doesn’t allow for appropriate representation,” the family member added.
The Village Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 436 E. Vinton Road.
The council will talk about the controversy surrounding the voting and allegations the online voting site has been hacked. Martinez has allegedly been getting 10 votes for every 1 vote compared to Medel.
The Village issued the following statement: “This campaign was never meant to create disagreement or division. Instead, it was designed to bring us together and celebrate the spirit we all share as a community. We deeply respect the legacies of both individuals.”
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