One of the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights groups is sounding the alarm after the homes of several of its members were searched by the Texas Attorney General’s office as part of an investigation into voter fraud.
The Texas Federation of Latinos (LULAC) is calling for a Department of Justice investigation into the attacks on at least three of its members in Texas. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement last week that his office executed multiple search warrants in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, and neighboring Frio and Atascosa counties as part of a two-year investigation. The attorney general’s office has not provided details of the investigation and did not respond to requests for comment.
No arrests have been made and the exact nature of the investigation is unclear, but LULAC officials said the raids themselves were intended as intimidation.
“They’re trying to intimidate our registrars,” said Lulac president Roman Palomares. “What they’re trying to do is intimidate, and that has lasting consequences. People read it and think, ‘Oh, I mean, if they can do that to her, how can they go after me, I’m the registrar?'”
A Justice Department spokesman said the department was aware of the matter but would not comment further.
Lydia Martinez, 87, said nine officers from the Attorney General’s Office showed up on her doorstep at 6 a.m. last Tuesday and searched her house for hours while she stood by in her nightgowns. The officers told her they were there because elderly people complained they hadn’t received their ballots.
Martinez said she was escorted outside to neighbors while officers searched the home, eventually leaving with her laptop, notebook and cell phone.
Lidia Martinez (center), a volunteer and great-grandmother whose home was searched, speaks at a press conference in LULAC on Monday. Photo: Eric Gay/AP
“I asked them why everyone was doing this and he said it was because there was fraud,” she said. “I told them I’m not doing anything illegal, all I’m doing is helping the elderly.”
Texas has very strict rules about voting by mail. Only people 65 and older can request a mail-in ballot. Anyone who helps you request a ballot must fill out a form stating that they did so. Only you, or a family member or person living in your household, can return the ballot.
Paxton’s office has long run a unit dedicated to prosecuting voter fraud cases, but the unit has a multimillion-dollar budget but has closed very few cases — for example, last year it had a budget of $2.3 million and opened just four cases, according to the Houston Chronicle.
In 2021, the Texas Supreme Criminal Court ruled that Paxton could not pursue cases on his own, but instead must be invited to investigate by the local district attorney. (In the LULAC case, Paxton’s office said it was invited to investigate by local prosecutor Audrey Lewis.) Even before that ruling, Paxton had been inflating his case to create the impression that he was uncovering a massive fraud in Texas.
Paxton, who lost a Supreme Court lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, said last week that his office was investigating reports of people registering foreign nationals outside of the DMV. The investigation was apparently sparked by allegations made by Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that were quickly denied as false.
Paxton’s investigation comes as Republicans try to stoke fears about extremely rare foreign voters ahead of this fall’s elections.
A copy of the Martinez search warrant provided by LULAC shows that officers were instructed to gather evidence of violations of Texas law that prohibits the collection of mail-in ballots for payment or “to deliver votes for a particular candidate or measure.” Officers were also instructed to gather evidence of Texas law that prohibits the unauthorized use or possession of personally identifiable information.
Martinez said officers asked about other LULAC members and about Manuel Medina, a former chairman of the Bexar County Democratic Party and a Democratic political activist. Medina’s home was also searched last week, according to The Texas Tribune. Authorities have recordings of Medina discussing plans to gather votes for Democrat Cecilia Castellano, who is running for state House of Representatives, according to an affidavit from an investigator with the Texas Attorney General’s Office obtained by the newspaper.
Castellano said her home was also searched Monday, with officers showing up with flashlights at 6 a.m. while her son was asleep.
“This is the Republican way. They create confusion, false claims and waste taxpayer money,” she said.
