Half a dozen people, including a district judge, two municipal councilors and a former election manager of the province, were sued in Texas on Wednesday for “voice harvest” and with evidence, the raising of the charges of Attorney General Ken Paxton from voters fraud by mainly Latino Democraten to a criminal level.
The charges surprised Latino voting activists, who had insisted that a series of law enforcement attacks on political agents and voting organizers, some who were in the 1970s and 80s seemed have been politics. The raids last August by Mr Paxton’s office were part of a vast voter fraud investigation in Latino enclaves near San Antonio and in South -Texas, performed by Mr. Paxton’s “election integrity unit”.
At the time, the League of United Latin -American citizens, one of the oldest Latino burial rights organizations in the country, said that officers who performed the raids took mobile phones, computers and documents. An 87-year-old retired educator described heavily armed officers who brought her house and took personal things.
Lulac leaders accused the famous conservative attorney general of trying to suppress Latino voters and asked the Ministry of Justice to investigate the raids.
Now five people, all with ties with democratic candidates, are accused of illegal moods, whereby doors are usually knocking and questions or volunteers can deliver absentee or post-in stampers to voting centers or ballot papers.
Gov. signed in 2021 Greg Abbott A revision of the Texas election laws, including new restrictions on harvesting votes, making it illegal to give a vote for a third party. Many activists fear that the exchange of money, such as money for gas, to vote or to cast a vote, can also be considered illegal. The indictment of Wednesday accused officials of the use of CashApp to pay one person to involve another to collect ballot papers.
It was unclear whether other arrests were awaiting.
“I think this is all part of the oppression of voters,” said Lidia Martinez, who was 87 at that time at the time nine officersSome with weapons, her house fell over in San Antonio. She did not belong to the accused.
Lulac officials said on Wednesday that they had to study the charges before they commented on this article.
The investigation stem from a reference from Audrey Gossett Louis, a Republican Justice from the 81st judicial district, including Atascosa and Frio Counties, where Mr Paxton’s office carried out some raids.
Mr. Paxton’s election integrity unit was established after Donald J. Trump had filed false claims of fraud after the 2020 elections, and the Republicans, led by the Republicans, tried to combat the supposed voter crime. Experts have discovered that voters fraud remains rare.
According to a statement from Mr Paxton’s office, a large jury has returned charges against Rochelle Camacho, a district judge in Frio County; Carlos Segura, a former election manager for Frio; Ramiro Trevino and Racheal Garza, councilors for the city of Pearsall; Adriann Ramirez, a trustee at the school district in Pearsall; and Rosa Rodriguez, who is described as an ‘alleged Frio County Vote Harvester’.
Mr. Segura said by telephone on Wednesday and said, “The charges are ridiculous,” and added that he was advised by his lawyer not to comment any further.
It was unclear on Wednesday afternoon whether most of those who have to do with charges had legal representation.
“The people of Texas deserve honest and honest elections, no back room offers and political insiders that perform the system,” said Mr. Paxton in a statement. “Elected officials who think they can cheat to stay in power, are held responsible. No one is above the law.”
Mr Paxton, who challenges the Senior Senator of Texas, John Cornyn, in the Senate Primary of next year, said his office “would continue to work with Frio County District Attorney Audrey Louis to protect the integrity of our elections.”
According to the charges, most civil servants are accused of offering a kind of financial compensation “in exchange for harvesting votes.” Mrs. Ramirez is confronted with the most charges, three counts of votes. The indictment for right Camach remained sealed.
Mr. Segura is accused of messing with evidence. In the indictment, he is accused of “well-known” hiding documents and data, applications for post-in-voting and carrier envelopes, “with the intention of influencing the availability of documents and data as evidence in any subsequent research with regard to the violation.”
Not included in the list of accused was Manuel Medina, a local campaign adviser who was closely involved in the Tejano Democrats, a group that insists on Spanish representation in the Democratic party. The raid last summer at the house of Mr. Medina received national attention.
According to a sworn statement used to request the house search order, a researcher received a registered conversation in which Mr Medina discussed the collection – or ‘Harvest’ – ballot papers on behalf of a local candidate.
Legal reports show that agents with Mr Paxton’s office spent seven hours at Mr Medina’s house and paper, documents, photos of family and others seized, as well as around 65 mobile phones and 41 computers and storage devices.
Mrs. Martinez described himself to feel terrified as the officers, seven of them men, pushed her door open and marched along a wall of a living room decorated with crucifix. On Wednesday, as news From the distribution of the charges, she expressed relief that she had no criminal prosecution.
Mrs. Martinez said that she was asked if she had done a voice work in Frio County. She said no and she no longer heard from researchers.
“They left me alone,” she said and added, “this has been very stressful.”
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
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