A Bexar County political operative who boasted on hidden camera about her mail-ballot harvesting prowess has been arrested and charged with multiple voting fraud felonies.
On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Rachel Rodriguez (identified in earlier reports as Raquel) was arrested for election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people who were voting by mail, and unlawfully possessing an official ballot.
Rodriguez could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The self-described “ballot chaser” was first exposed in October by undercover journalists at Project Veritas.
“Rodriguez was recorded with hidden camera explaining how she and her confederates pressure and reward targeted voters in order to meet the vote totals campaigns and candidates have contracted them to meet,” James O’Keefe, founder and CEO of Project Veritas, said at the time the recordings were released, adding Rodriguez told their journalists she had “already brought in 7,000 votes.”
According to Paxton, the Election Fraud Division of the Office of the Attorney General reviewed dozens of hours of unedited, raw footage recorded by Project Veritas, which led to Rodriguez’s arrest.
“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,” Paxton said in a statement:
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.
In November, a Limestone County social worker was charged with 134 election fraud felonies after allegedly submitting false voter forms for disabled residents of a state-run supported living center.
Paxton said the investigation of Rodriguez is ongoing and advised anyone with knowledge of the vote-harvesting scheme to come forward and cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General.
