Chapter 6 • “[T]he standard of review to be placed on an appeal from a judgment in an election contest is whether from the record it appears that the trial court abused its discretion. This court will reverse only if the evidence in support of the finding is so weak as to render the outcome mani- festly unjust or clearly wrong. Although the Findings of Fact in a judge-tried case are not conclusive when a complete statement of facts appears in the record, great deference must be given to the judge’s determination of the witnesses’ credibility and the weight to be given to their testimony.” Green v. Reyes, 836 S.W.2d 203, 208, 211, 212 (Tex. App. Houston 1992). • “[W]e feel it necessary to state perhaps the most primary rule of appellate review and that is the court on review, cannot weigh the evidence.” Fultz v. Newkirk 475 N.E.2d 706, 707 (Ind. 1985). F. Summary: Judicial review of decisions in election challenges has a limited scope. • • • • As in the law generally, there are limits on a court’s scope of review of an administrative body or lower court’s decision resolving an election dispute. The scope of review controls how much of an earlier decision a court can or cannot change. A reviewing court is not to substitute its view of a case for the decision made by an administrative body or lower court. A court’s scope of review of an administrative or judicial decision is limited to corrections of errors of law. Findings of fact will not be overturned unless wholly unsupported by the evidence. o o A reviewing court must uphold an administrative body’s decision regardless of whether the reviewing court would have reached the same decision if it had the initial responsibility for making the decision. A reviewing court will only determine whether the decision of an administrative body or trial court was: • • • • Unsupported by substantial evidence, Against the manifest weight of the evidence, Based upon an erroneous interpretation of the law, or Arbitrary or capricious. Only in these cases can the decision be reversed. 129