Texas AG accuses county official, 3 others of election fraud in mail-in ballot scheme
Texas authorities arrested a Gregg County commissioner and three others, accusing them of conducting a voter fraud scheme during the 2018 Democratic primary.
Gregg County is in East Texas and includes the towns of Longview, Kilgore and Gladewater.
Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown was among those arrested and charged with a scheme to increase the pool of ballots “to swing the race in Brown’s favor,” a release from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “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.”
Texas election law requires mail-in ballots based on disability only be used by physically ill residents who can’t vote in-person.
Others arrested were Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns and DeWayne Ward.
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.
“It is an unfortunate reality that elections can be stolen outright by mail ballot fraud,” Paxton said in a release. “Election fraud, particularly an organized mail ballot fraud scheme orchestrated by political operatives, is an affront to democracy and results in voter disenfranchisement and corruption at the highest level.”
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 4:26 PM.
