A county commissioner and three associates were arrested over an election fraud scheme during the 2018 election.
Among those charged include Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown, Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns, and DeWayne Ward. The four are accused of orchestrating a vote-harvesting scheme to help Brown win her Democratic primary in 2018, according to the Dallas Morning News.
They face 134 felony charges, 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, and tampering with a governmental record. Brown was indicted by a grand jury on 23 felony counts, Jackson on 97 felony counts, and six counts on Ward.
Brown won his race with just five votes, with only about 2,000 ballots total cast for the local race. However, of the ballots cast, almost 40% of the votes were cast by mail, an unusually high amount in 2018, with almost 30% claiming a disability for their reasons on voting absentee.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who echoes President Trump’s opposition to mass mail-in voting touted by Democrats, said the incident is an example that voter fraud is a real possibility in elections.
“It is an unfortunate reality that elections can be stolen outright by mail ballot fraud,” Paxton said. “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 case demonstrates my commitment to ensuring Texas has the most secure elections in the country.”
If indicted, the defendants face anywhere between six months to 99 years in prison.
