A judge ruled Wednesday that more than 80 votes were illegally cast in the May 28 Hidalgo County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, Place 1 Democratic Primary runoff election, and declared a new winner.

State District Judge Jose Manuel Bañales ruled that Ramon Segovia was the true winner of the runoff race, according to court records.

Segovia filed the election lawsuit on June 18 after his opponent, Sonia Treviño, beat him in the runoff by 31 votes.

The lawsuit claimed several of Treviño's votes shouldn't be counted, as "numerous" voters received assistance they weren't eligible for under the Texas elections code to complete the ballot.

Tre trial started on July 15, and concluded on Wednesday with the court finding that 78 “illegal” votes were cast for Treviño, while three “illegal" votes were cast for Segovia.

“The Court finds that contestant Segovia received 4,199 true votes and that contestee Treviño received 4,155 true votes,” a ruling signed by Judge Bañales states. “Because the court finds that contestant Segovia received 44 more true votes than Contestee Treviño, the court hereby declares Ramon Segovia the winner..."

The runoff was held following the March 5 primary after neither Treviño nor Segovia received a majority of votes. 

Treviño received 6,415 votes — a little over 49% of the votes in the March 5 election. Segovia received 3,297 votes, according to results from the Hidalgo County elections website. 

"Between March and May, he was able to gather 1,000 votes. That’s impossible," attorney Rick Salinas, who represented Treviño, told Channel 5 News.

Treviño will appeal the decision, Salinas added. 

Segovia thanked his supporters in a statement to Channel 5 News, adding that he was pleased with the decision.

"This contest wasn't about me getting a position. It was to show the people that I would stand up for what is right and fight for it, and that's why I ran for JP, "Segovia stated. "There are some serious issues with elections right now, and my hope is that we played a small part in making things right for all future candidates who decide to run in the future."