Democrats have been insistent for the past two years that voter fraud simply does not occur, contrary to the claims of former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters in the wake of the 2020 election results that some found to be rather dubious and implausible.
Yet, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just announced Friday that a guilty plea had been entered by a Texas woman charged with multiple counts of voter fraud, Fox News reported.
Granted, the fraud took place in 2018 in a local election, but the conviction nonetheless proves that, despite claims otherwise by Democrats and the media, election fraud does, in fact, occur and, in some cases, could be sufficient to alter the results of a close election.
“Voter fraud is real, and it’s a real threat”
In a Friday morning tweet, the Texas AG wrote, “Voter fraud is real, and it’s a real threat. That’s why I have a whole Unit devoted to stopping it. My office’s commitment to election integrity ensures Texas has the safest elections in the country. Here’s one of our successful recent cases:”
Voter fraud is real, and it’s a real threat. That’s why I have a whole Unit devoted to stopping it. My office’s commitment to election integrity ensures Texas has the safest elections in the country. Here’s one of our successful recent cases: https://t.co/Uu0rzxDUPp
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) June 17, 2022
That tweet linked to a press release from the attorney general’s office that provided further details of a ballot-harvesting scheme that had been uncovered and prosecuted.
Five years probation following guilty plea for voter fraud
In that press release, it was noted that Monica Mendez of Victoria County had pleaded guilty to 26 felony counts of voter fraud, which included “three counts of illegal voting, eight counts of election fraud, seven counts of assisting a voter to submit a ballot by mail, and eight counts of unlawful possession of a mail ballot.”
The fraudulent acts occurred as part of a vote-harvesting scheme operated by Mendez with the intent of influencing the result of a local utility board election on behalf of an unspecified subsidized housing corporation.
As part of the deal for Mendez to plead guilty on all 26 counts, Mendez was sentenced by a judge to five years of “deferred adjudication probation,” meaning any additional run-ins with the law over the next five years could violate that probation and result in her serving five years in prison.
Fraudulent scheme detailed
A July 2021 indictment against Mendez provided some additional details on the vote-harvesting scheme during that special local utility board election in 2018.
The charges included assertions that Mendez had filled out ballots on behalf of voters without their knowledge, unlawfully and improperly submitted mail-in ballots for others in violation of election laws, knowingly and unlawfully possessed the mail-in ballots of other voters, and fraudulently influenced some voters under false pretenses to vote a particular way.
It is good that this ballot fraudster has pleaded guilty to her dozens of voter fraud charges, but it is a bit disappointing that she only received probation as an actual prison sentence would have served as a better deterrent against others with potential election fraud schemes.
