The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, has initiated a series of search warrants and raids in his ongoing investigation into election fraud across the state. These efforts are part of an investigation that has lasted for two years and covers various allegations, including ballot harvesting and voter fraud. One major focus of these recent raids is a particular organization that is believed to have been registering non-citizens to vote in the United States, although this organization has not yet been publicly identified.
In a press statement, Paxton expressed concern about organizations that claim to help with voter registration but are instead allegedly registering non-citizens to vote illegally. He emphasized that his office takes every credible report of potential election fraud seriously in order to maintain the integrity of the electoral process.
Paxton mentioned that President Biden’s administration has deliberately allowed a large number of undocumented individuals into the country, and without proper safeguards, these non-citizens could potentially sway elections at the local, state, and national levels through fraudulent means. He questioned why nonprofit groups are setting up booths outside official driver’s license centers in Texas with the purported intent of registering voters, given that American citizens have the opportunity to register to vote when applying for a new driver’s license or a renewal at DPS offices.
Multiple search warrants were executed in Frio, Bexar, and Atascosa counties as part of this investigation into election fraud. In Texas, misrepresenting an individual’s citizenship status while registering to vote is a criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Furthermore, it is also illegal for anyone to assist a non-citizen in registering to vote; those convicted of this crime can face up to 20 years in jail and another $10,000 fine.
In June 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill that made non-citizen voting a second-degree felony, while another bill signed later that year implemented additional election integrity measures such as regular citizenship checks of the names on the state’s voter rolls and ID requirements for voters using mail-in ballots. The state also regularly cross-checks its voter registration list with information from DPS about non-citizens and lists of individuals barred from serving on juries due to a lack of citizenship.
Another law signed by Abbott in 2021 gives the state the power to withhold funds from any counties that fail to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls. Additionally, Texas residents have the right to challenge an individual’s voter registration based on their citizenship status, prompting a hearing and potentially resulting in the cancellation of the registration if it is discovered that the person is not a citizen.
The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, announced that all organizations will be temporarily banned from operating on DPS property while the investigation into election fraud continues.
In another recent case involving alleged vote fraud in Texas, a Democrat election worker in Harris County was charged with tampering and theft for improperly distributing paper ballots during the midterm elections in 2022. Darryl Blackburn, who was tasked with handing out paper ballots, is facing six felony charges after he allegedly delivered an insufficient number of ballots to many Republican precincts in the county, effectively disenfranchising countless voters.
Sources for this article include: The National Pulse, The Gateway Pundit, and Star-Telegram.