Mitchell Bend resident Cheryl Shadden has accused Hood County Judge Ron Massingill of interfering in her community’s incorporation election, which is now scheduled for November.
Shadden filed a complaint against Judge Massingill on Wednesday with Hood County’s district attorney and county attorney.
The complaint alleges that Massingill engaged in election interference and official misconduct when he invalidated a petition for placing Mitchell Bend’s incorporation question on the ballot—after receiving a request to do so from attorneys representing MARA Holdings, a Florida-based company that operates a bitcoin mine in the area.
Local residents claim noise from the facility is making people sick, while MARA points to a sound study that concluded noise levels are within legal limits.
Shadden and other Mitchell Bend residents began circulating a petition earlier this year so they could vote on incorporating as a Type B municipality, in part to protect their community against further unwanted industrial development.
Massingill approved the Mitchell Bend petition in May and ordered the incorporation election to take place on November 4.
But on August 5, attorneys with Nelson Mullins sent Massingill a letter asking him to “vacate” his order and “set aside” the November incorporation election, citing its “potential impact on our client, MARA Holdings.”
During an August 12 Hood County Commissioners Court meeting, Massingill announced he had vacated his incorporation election order.
While Massingill later signed a second incorporation application, Shadden asserts that Massingill’s actions after “receiving direct instructions” from MARA attorneys “resulted in the unlawful invalidation of a lawful incorporation petition without notice to applicants.”
Shadden also filed complaints with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The right of Mitchell Bend residents to vote on incorporation is a fundamental election matter,” Shadden’s complaint concludes. “Judge Massingill’s actions deprived voters of their rights without notice and at the request of a corporate entity with no legal standing in the incorporation process.”
“Immediate investigation and corrective action are necessary to restore public trust.”
Massingill, a retired attorney, is also the defendant in a federal free speech lawsuit filed by former Hood County Republican Party chair Steve Biggers.
Massingill has not yet responded to a request for comment.
