{"id":2456920,"date":"2025-07-08T13:58:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T17:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-suspects-including-democrat-officials-indicted-for-voter-fraud\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T13:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T17:58:18","slug":"9-suspects-including-democrat-officials-indicted-for-voter-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-suspects-including-democrat-officials-indicted-for-voter-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Suspects, Including Democrat Officials, Indicted For Voter Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F9-suspects-including-democrat-officials-indicted-for-voter-fraud%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2456920&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>an ongoing election integrity investigation in Texas, led by attorney General Ken paxton, resulted in the indictment of nine additional suspects last week on voter fraud charges, joining six previously charged individuals for a total of 15 suspects. Many of those indicted, including several local Democrat officials such as former Texas House candidate Cecilia Castellano and others with ties to Democratic candidates, face charges related to illegal ballot harvesting-a practice prohibited under Texas law, which generally requires voters to submit their own ballots.The investigation began in 2022 and has uncovered evidence of vote harvesting activities, including allegations that operatives were compensated for collecting ballots unlawfully. While Paxton&#8217;s office asserts its commitment to protecting election integrity and prosecuting election crimes, some defendants deny wrongdoing and claim the investigation is politically motivated.Most of the suspects have connections to local politics, and the legal proceedings are ongoing.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Nine suspects, including multiple Democrat&nbsp;officials, were indicted last week on voter fraud charges as part of&nbsp;an ongoing state-led election integrity investigation headed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, KSAT Investigates <a href=\"http:\/\/ksat.com\/news\/ksat-investigates\/2025\/07\/02\/pearsall-isd-board-secretary-latest-to-be-charged-in-state-led-vote-harvesting-investigation\/\">reported<\/a>.&nbsp;Seven of the 9 suspects reportedly turned themselves in to the county jail last week.<\/p>\n<p>A judicial district attorney confirmed the&nbsp;indictments, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/ksat-investigates\/2025\/07\/02\/pearsall-isd-board-secretary-latest-to-be-charged-in-state-led-vote-harvesting-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to KSAT. These newly charged nine join six charged in early May, creating a group of 15 total suspects. Among them are several Pearsall Council Members, a Frio County judge, and two former local mayors, in addition to the former Democrat House candidate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The suspects each face one or more charges of ballot-harvesting activities inconsistent with Texas&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Ballot_harvesting_(ballot_collection)_laws_by_state#Texas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">law<\/a>. Texas&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Ballot_harvesting_(ballot_collection)_laws_by_state#Texas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">requires<\/a>&nbsp;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.<\/p>\n<p>Frio County initially indicted six suspects in early May, arresting five, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/local\/2025\/05\/03\/frio-county-judge-pearsall-officials-among-6-suspects-charged-in-connection-with-voting-investigation-sheriff-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to KSAT News. The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/07\/us\/politics\/texas-vote-fraud.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> 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 &ldquo;vote-harvesting services,&rdquo; in February 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsmax.com\/newsfront\/texas-state-democrats\/2025\/07\/04\/id\/1217605\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NewsMax<\/a> reported. Leal has been charged with one count of vote harvesting, Castellano and Medina with two, and Rodriguez with three counts.<\/p>\n<p>Paxton&rsquo;s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/attorney-general-ken-paxton-announces-six-indictments-and-arrests-frio-county-illegal-vote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released<\/a> a statement at the time of the original 6 indictments announcing that they had found evidence of ballot harvesting activity, with Paxton assuring his constituents, &ldquo;My office will continue to work with Frio County District Attorney Audrey Louis to protect the integrity of our elections.&rdquo; The indictments come in response to a years-long series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasattorneygeneral.gov\/news\/releases\/attorney-general-ken-paxtons-criminal-investigation-division-executes-search-warrants-frio-atascosa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">investigations<\/a> instigated by Paxton&rsquo;s Election Integrity Unit. On referral from 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Louis in 2022, Paxton&rsquo;s office spent two years investigating possible election fraud. They obtained enough evidence to obtain and execute search warrants in 2024, resulting in the series of charges currently being acted on.<\/p>\n<p>Castellano&rsquo;s lawyer, Don Flanary, claims his client is innocent and that the investigation is politically motivated, saying, &ldquo;Even if (the) statute was constitutional, she didn&rsquo;t do anything approaching what they&rsquo;ve accused her of,&rdquo; in response to KSAT&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/ksat-investigates\/2025\/07\/02\/pearsall-isd-board-secretary-latest-to-be-charged-in-state-led-vote-harvesting-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inquiry<\/a>. Leal also claims innocence, saying she was merely, &ldquo;leaving flyers at people&rsquo;s houses.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>All except two of the fifteen suspects have some connection to local politics,&nbsp;according to KSAT.&nbsp;Paxton&rsquo;s office has pledged to make &ldquo;election integrity &hellip; a central issue.&rdquo;&nbsp;At the onset of the investigation, Paxton announced, &ldquo;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.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>   Ariel McDowell is a correspondent for The Federalist. She is studying Rhetoric and Media at Hillsdale College and is Assistant News Director at Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nine suspects, including several Democrats, indicted in Texas voter fraud probe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3897,"featured_media":2456923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PAXTON.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PAXTON.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3897"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456920"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456922,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456920\/revisions\/2456922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2456923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}