The Texas Attorney General’s Office announced on Wednesday that police officers arrested Rachel Rodriguez on four felony charges, including election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people voting by mail, and unlawfully possessing an official ballot, the Public Interest Legal Foundation reported.
“Today’s announcement marks another example of how Texas is leading the nation in effective investigations into ballot harvesting,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said.
“Texas shows how election officials, law enforcement, and the concerned public can collaborate to identify alleged election fraud schemes,” Adams said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton commented on the case, too.
“Many continue to claim that there’s no such thing as election fraud. We’ve always known that such a claim is false and misleading, and today we have additional hard evidence,” he said.
“This is a victory for election integrity and a strong signal that anyone who attempts to defraud the people of Texas, deprive them of their vote, or undermine the integrity of elections will be brought to justice,” he added.
Project Veritas filmed Rodriguez, who is identified as Raquel Rodriguez, harvesting ballots and manipulating people into changing their ballots.
The video was posted the week before the 2020 presidential election.
In the video, Rodriguez picks up a ballot from an elderly woman and says to the undercover journalist, “She voted for John Cornyn [R-Texas]. OK? So this is who she voted for here. Alright?”
Then Rodriguez proceeds to intimidate the senior citizen.
“Now you know on here you chose a Republican not a Democrat, right?,” Rodriguez asks.
“Can I do that?,” the voter asks.
“You can do, you can vote for whoever you want,” Rodriguez says.
“But our conversation that we had, you said you were voting for Hegar, cause you were going straight Democrat,” she continues. “So I’m just bringing that to your attention. Cause you could literally change it, put your initials there and you’re fine, because if you’re trying to do a straight Democratic ballot that is not a Democrat,” she continues.
Rodriguez hands the ballot back to the woman, and she inspects it.
“Can I leave it like that? I don’t know. But I do want it all Democrats,” the elderly voter said.
Eventually, Rodriguez convinces her to strike a line through Cornyn’s name, fill in the bubble for Senate candidate Mary Hegar, and initial the new mark so that poll workers know she meant to change her vote.
Texas law C 276.013 prohibits influencing a voter while they are voting; § 64.036 prohibits suggesting how to vote while helping a voters fill out their ballots.
Federal law 18 USC § 594 as well as 52 USC § 10307(B) prohibits coercing voters.
Rodriguez committed election fraud as a profession rather than for partisan ends.
She admitted to working for Republican candidate Mauro Garza, who ran against Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, in the 20th District. Garza lost by a 2-1 margin.
“The shocking and blatantly illegal action documented by Project Veritas demonstrates a form of election fraud my office continually investigates and prosecutes,” Paxton said.
“I am fiercely committed to ensuring the voting process is secure and fair throughout the state, and my office is prepared to assist any Texas county in combating this insidious, un-American form of fraud,” he said.
