A mayor in South Texas, and his wife, have been arrested for rigging his own election back in 2017.
Here’s the lowdown:
HOUSTON CHRONICLE – A South Texas mayor and his wife have been arrested on voter fraud charges, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday.
City of Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina and his wife, Dalia, are charged with illegal voting, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in jail and an up to $10,000 fine, related to his 2017 mayoral election. Molina unseated the incumbent Mayor Richard Garcia after winning by more than 1,200 votes in that election.
“Voter fraud is an affront to democracy and places the decision-making authority of the Texas electorate in the hands of those who have no right to make those choices,” Paxton said in a press release. “My office will always do everything it can to protect the integrity of Texas elections and the rights of every legal voter to cast a ballot and have it counted accurately.”
The couple is accused of asking voters to change their addresses to places they didn’t live, including an apartment complex Molina owns, so they could vote for him in the November 2017 city election as part of what Paxton described as “an organized illegal voting scheme.”
Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina charged with orchestrating an illegal voting scheme. Texas is cracking down on election fraud. #txlege https://t.co/oPMjiiliji via @TexasTribune
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 25, 2019
Apparently 18 other people have already been arrested in connection with Molina’s voter fraud scheme.
Now I know what you are wondering: is this guy a Republican or Democrat?
I was wondering the very same thing! But I had to actually research the man because there wasn’t a single article I could find that gave his political party affiliation.
And honestly, I found nothing. There is a Richard Molina on Ballotpedia, but after more research I think that’s a different person altogether.
So I guess it doesn’t matter really. It’s good Texas is cracking down on voter fraud.