Texas Scorecard By Erin Anderson September 24, 2020
Four suspects charged in connection with an organized mail-ballot vote harvesting scheme during the 2018 Democrat primary election.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that authorities arrested four suspects on charges in connection with an organized mail-ballot vote harvesting scheme during the 2018 Democrat primary election.
Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown, Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns, and DeWayne Ward were charged with a total of 134 felony counts in the scheme that involved fraudulent mail-in ballot applications that falsely claimed voters were disabled.
Brown was declared the winner of the primary, which was decided by a five-vote margin.
From Paxton’s press release:
To increase the pool of ballots needed to swing the race in Brown’s favor, the group targeted young, able-bodied voters to cast ballots by mail by fraudulently claiming the voters were “disabled,†in most cases without the voters’ knowledge or consent. Under Texas election law, mail ballots based on disability are specifically reserved for those who are physically ill and cannot vote in-person as a result.
In total, the state filed 134 felony charges against the four defendants, including engaging in organized election fraud, illegal voting, fraudulent use of an application for a mail-in ballot, unlawful possession of a mail-in ballot, tampering with a governmental record, and election fraud. Penalties for these offenses range from six months in state jail to 99 years in prison.
Read
copies of the indictments here.