Texas authorities raided an elections office in the border county of Starr to investigate alleged illegal ballot harvesting during the November 2022 local elections.
The case is centered around the county judge election where longtime Democrat Eloy Vera won his re-election bid. According to the group Project Red Texas, which filed the initial complaint that started the investigation, politiqueras or poll workers acting on behalf of Vera would go to people’s homes where they would allegedly fill out mail-in ballots and then take them with them. Documents identify one specific politiquera named Modesta Vela who has allegedly been tied to voter fraud investigations. Project Red Texas claimed to have photographic evidence of Vela’s actions.
https://t.co/6fWvF74B8t pic.twitter.com/pj7ss80jp4
— Cat Parks (@CatParksTX) June 1, 2023
In response to the complaint, the Texas Attorney General’s Office obtained a search warrant from Texas 381 District Court Judge Jose Luis Garza. Authorities took approximately 180 ballots during the raid and the voter registration information for Modesta Vela.
Here is the Starr County Warrant pic.twitter.com/ZQIu3rDoHy
— ProjectRedTX (@ProjectRedTX) June 1, 2023
Project Texas Red has been working to flip key counties that historically have been controlled by the Democrat Party from blue to red in favor of the Republican Party.
According to the McAllen Monitor, in 2019, authorities charged Modesta Vela with illegal voting charges in connection with a previous election where she also worked for Eloy Vera. Those charges were dismissed two years later for lack of evidence. Vera himself has not been criminally charged in either of the cases.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.