Documents Show More People Connected To Vote Harvesting Scheme In Tarrant County
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Court documents filed in this week name more people the State of Texas says were connected to a vote harvesting scheme in Tarrant County.
The state indicted four women this month who prosecutors said were requesting mail-in ballots and filling them out for the Democratic Party.
New documents say Leticia Sanchez was receiving money to pay the other women for votes they collected.
The documents also say ballot applications were sent from the office of former Fort Worth City Councilman Sal Espino, but he is not charged in the case.
While calling it an organized ring, the Texas Attorney General's Office could not say if investigation was ongoing or if additional indictments could be expected.
A grand jury indicted Leticia Sanchez, Leticia Sanchez Tepichin, Maria Solis and Laura Parra on Wednesday, October 10.
Paxton's office said the women harvested votes, by filling out applications for mail-in ballots, with forged signatures. Then they would either "assist" the voter with filling out the ballot, or fill it out themselves, and use deception to get the voter to sign the envelope the ballot would be sent back in.
Political consultant Aaron Harris said Friday, October 12, the case stemmed out of information he provided to investigators back in 2016.
"The harvesters sit around and fill these out by the hundreds, often by the thousands," he said.
Harris publicly presented documents that year of signatures that didn't match on applications and envelopes.
In October, Governor Greg Abbott posted on Twitter about a voter fraud case under investigation in Tarrant County.
Harris said he's documented a number of additional people involved in the ring, but recognized the cases can be difficult to prosecute.
