A Democratic judge and five other individuals were indicted for election crimes after running a “vote harvesting scheme,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced Wednesday.
Judge Rochelle Lozano Camacho, an elected Democratic judge in Frio County, Texas, was charged with three counts of vote harvesting during her 2022 primary campaign, according to a press release from Paxton’s office. The county’s trustee — the judge’s sister — the election administrator, two Pearsall, Texas city council members, and an additional woman were also indicted.
The charges stem from a multi-year investigation launched in 2022 after Camacho’s opponent in the Democratic primary runoff, Mary Moore, filed a complaint, San Antonio-based ABC affiliate KSAT reported. Moore accused Camacho of hiring a longtime Democrat operative to gather mail ballots, complete applications, and even drive voters to polling locations. She allegedly paid them between $1,500 and $2,500.
Camacho allegedly targeted elderly voters in a Pearsall, Texas subdivision, Newsweek reported. One of Camacho’s partners in the scheme reportedly concealed ballots under her shirt and used multiple vehicles to avoid detection from investigators. (RELATED: Colorado Ex-Postal Worker Pleads Guilty In Scheme To Steal 2024 Election Ballots, Cast Them Fraudulently)
Judge Camacho campaigned on a message of “UNITY, MOVEMENT and PROGRESSION FOR FRIO COUNTY,” and alerted people to the start of “mail outs” and early voting in 2022. She beat Moore by 157 votes in the primary to advance to a runoff where she won by 72 votes out of 322 total ballots cast.
Vote harvesting typically refers to the collection and delivery of completed absentee or mail-in ballots by a third party. While the voter is supposed to fill out and seal the ballot themselves, someone else takes it to a drop box. Vote harvesting is illegal in many states, including in Texas.
Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general, during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, US, on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. (Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Paxton, who is mounting a primary challenge to incumbent Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn in the 2026 midterms, vowed to bring corrupt public officials to justice.
“Elected officials who think they can cheat to stay in power will be held accountable. No one is above the law,” he said in a statement.
The attorney general’s office charged four people with vote harvesting in 2020, including a county commissioner.
All suspects except Judge Camacho were arrested on May 2. She will be processed at a later date, according to Paxton’s statement.
Vote harvesting is a third-degree felony in Texas, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
