San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Three women face voter fraud counts
Three women are out on personal recognizance bonds after being arrested on voter fraud charges last week involving a 2016 city of Hidalgo runoff election.
An attorney for one of the women said the charges were politically motivated.
Marcela Gutierrez was charged with illegal voting, a second-degree felony, because she is not a U.S. citizen, according to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office. She also was charged with 10 counts of unlawfully assisting a voter, a class A misdemeanor.
In a news release announcing the arrests, officials accused Gutierrez of leading a voter to believe that she was demonstrating how to use a voting machine when what she really was doing was casting votes for candidates she had been paid to support.
Campaign worker Sylvia Arjona was charged with four counts of unlawfully assisting a voter, and fellow campaign worker Sara Ornelas was charged with three counts of the same charge.
Arjonas’ attorney, Benjamin Castillo, said he understands that the attorney general’s office used a statement from a rival of the candidate whom Arjonas was sup- porting as probable cause for her arrest.
“We’re waiting for the DA’s office to give out all the information,” Castillo said Saturday. “What I can tell you is that my client did not do any of the things that they’re alleging.
Gutierrez faces two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 if she is convicted of illegal voting. Ornelas’ and Arjona’s charges are punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Paxton’s office has been active in investigating allegations of voter fraud. Last month, his office, along with the Texas Rangers and the Hidalgo County district attorney’s office, arrested five people in an ongoing investigation into an alleged illegal voting scheme in the 2017 Edinburg election. That city is 20 miles north of Hidalgo.