Public corruption is so bad in South Texas that the FBI
developed a task force to clean up the Rio Grande Valley’s wrongdoings. In
2013, more public officials were convicted
for corruption here than any other reason. The major sin, vote-stealing.
In South Texas, a local candidate can call on a campaign
worker, or politiqueras, if they need dependable votes. After losing candidates
challenged this practice, the authorities caught wind of the investigations,
and both the Justice Department and the Texas attorney general’s office filed
charges. James Sturgis, assistant U.S. attorney in McAllen says,
"Yes, there is a concern in which
the politiqueras are being paid to then go and essentially round up voters and
have them vote a certain way."
Voters were bribed with cigarettes, beer, or dime bags of
cocaine, but other politiqueras tamper directly with mail-in ballots. Most are
not willing to talk to reporters, but one like Herminia Becerra, spoke with
NPR. As a self-anointed queen of politiqueras, Beccerra claims she can be the
winning factor in small precincts.
Allegedly some politiqueras charge $10-20 for each mail-in
ballot delivered in favor of their candidate. Yet, others simply know their
precinct’s votng habits and can be a helpful political consultant. Some claim
not to break the law and only to deliver votes.
Citizens Against Voter Abuse (CAVA) founder, Mary
Helen Flores discussed with NPR that
"[I]t's important to clean up Valley elections because residents need honest leaders to address the rates of high poverty and low educational achievement in the region, not office-holders who feather their nests."
Vote fraud disenfranchises legal voters including the poor. It is particularly ironic that this practice is so widespread in Texas where the left spent so much of last year denying the existence of vote fraud and fighting against commonsense measures to combat fraud such as voter ID.
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