Rafael Angel Elizondo, of Cameron County, along with Jose Garza, engaged in illegal vote harvesting during the 2012 Democratic Primary run-off. Elizondo improperly posessed between 10 and 20 ballots without the consent of the voters. Elizondo faced a third degree felony method of returning marked ballot charge. He pleaded no contest to the charge and […]
In the Donna School Board race, four campaign workers participated in a scheme that involved buying votes with cocaine, cash, beer, and cigarettes. All four pleaded guilty; Garcia received an 18-month sentence, and Castaneda received an eight-month sentence with credit for cooperating against her co-defendants.
Michael Scotch and his wife, Tamara, of Edwards County, voted in a district other than the one in which they resided in a 2013 municipal election. The Scotches both falsely listed their residence as being in Rocksprings, and voted there, despite not living in the city. Michael was charged with two counts of illegal voting […]
Avery Ayers, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, forged signatures on a petition for candidacy in the 2014 General Election race in Texas. Ayers pled guilty to one count of third degree felony forgery and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Benito Aranda Jr., who was ineligible to vote due to a prior felony conviction, voted illegally in a 2012 primary election. Aranda pled guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, probated to 10 years of community supervision.
Following an investigation by the Texas Attorney General’s office, Margarita Rangel Ozuna was charged with engaging in election fraud, along with five others during the 2012 Democratic Primary runoff election in Cameron County. Ozuna pleaded guilty to charges of fraudulent use of absentee ballots and was sentenced to serve 15 days in Cameron County jail and […]
Annette Bosworth, a doctor in Sioux Falls, challenged former Governor Mike Rounds for one of South Dakota’s U.S. Senate seats in the 2014 Republican primary. She lost, but upon review of her petition, officials discovered that six of the petitions she submitted to the Secretary of State’s office contained discrepancies. Bosworth was out of the […]
Clayton Walker, a former U.S. Senate candidate, pleaded guilty to one count of offering a false or forged instrument for filing and one count of perjury, both of which are Class 6 felonies. Walker submitted 3,374 signatures on a nominating petition to gain placement on the ballot as an Independent; half of those signatures were […]
Janice Howe pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury stemming from Howe’s 1999 forgery of petition signatures. At the time, Howe indicated she had witnessed voters sign their names to the petition. Though she was formally charged in 2002, she was not arrested until 2015. She received a suspended four-year prison sentence and was given […]
Eugene Gallagher pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges in connection with the November 2013 election, in which he was a candidate for councilman in the Taylor Borough. He unlawfully persuaded Taylor residents and non-residents to register for absentee ballots in the election using a Taylor address. Gallagher was the top vote-getter in the election and […]