Six people in Texas including two City Council members and a school board trustee, have been indicted for felony voter fraud after an investigation led by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The top executive in Frio County, a county elections worker and a local resident were also among those indicted on May 1,
AG Paxton said the charges come after an extensive investigation last year.
Most of the six are charged with ‘vote harvesting’, a felony that often involves payment for collecting and dropping off other people’s absentee ballots.
Several of the officials indicted in Frio County are accused of using Cash App to pay for vote harvesting services.
Paxton saying in a statement that “The people of Texas deserve fair and honest elections, not backroom deals and political insiders rigging the system. Elected officials who think they can cheat to stay in power will be held accountable,”
The indictments were the latest development in an investigation that Paxton started after the 2020 election to root out voter fraud,.
according to search warrant affidavits Investigators with the Texas Attorney General’s Office were first told of allegations of vote harvesting by Mary Moore, who was Camacho’s opponent in the March 2022 Democratic primary for county judge.
Moore accused Camacho of hiring a woman who had been collecting mail ballots for candidates in Frio County for nearly three decades. Moore said that the woman charged candidates anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500 to collect mail ballots, applications for ballot by mail and to even drive people to vote curbside.
Investigators allege that the vote harvesting scheme targeted elderly people.
Camacho and Ramirez, who were identified in court documents as sisters, allegedly took part in an effort in October 2022 to gather mail-in ballots from residents there, according to the affidavit.
Investigators allege the woman who was Camacho’s main vote harvester hid ballots underneath her shirt and used different vehicles “to throw off investigators.”
