Report: 9 Suspects, Including Multiple Democrat Officials, Indicted For Voter Fraud

Nine suspects, including multiple Democrat officials, were indicted last week on voter fraud charges as part of an ongoing state-led election integrity investigation headed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, KSAT Investigates reported. Seven of the 9 suspects reportedly turned themselves in to the county jail last week.

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The suspects each face one or more charges of ballot-harvesting activities inconsistent with Texas law. Texas requires that, excluding rare exceptions, each voter turn in their own ballot. Vote harvesting, often referred to as ballot harvesting, involves a party other than the voter gathering and submitting absentee ballots outside of the legal exceptions, and is considered a third-degree felony.

Frio County initially indicted six suspects in early May, arresting five, according to KSAT News. The New York Times reported all original five as having ties to Democrat candidates. Similar connections can be seen among the nine charged last week, which includes former Democrat House candidate Cecilia Castellano and Juan Manuel Medina. Medina has been accused of vote harvesting on behalf of Castellano, who ran in 2024 for the District 80 seat in the Texas House of Representatives. Medina allegedly compensated one Rachel Leal and former Dilley council member Inelda Rodriguez in exchange for “vote-harvesting services,” in February 2024, NewsMax reported. Leal has been charged with one count of vote harvesting, Castellano and Medina with two, and Rodriguez with three counts.

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Castellano’s lawyer, Don Flanary, claims his client is innocent and that the investigation is politically motivated, saying, “Even if (the) statute was constitutional, she didn’t do anything approaching what they’ve accused her of,” in response to KSAT’s inquiry. Leal also claims innocence, saying she was merely, “leaving flyers at people’s houses.”

All except two of the fifteen suspects have some connection to local politics, according to KSAT. Paxton’s office has pledged to make “election integrity … a central issue.” At the onset of the investigation, Paxton announced, “We are completely committed to protecting the security of the ballot box and the integrity of every legal vote. This means ensuring accountability for anyone committing election crimes.”