Raquel Rodriguez, a San Antonio campaign worker, was arrested on election fraud charges after she was caught on camera guiding an older woman to change her vote on a mail-in ballot in favor of democrats. The video was recorded using an undercover camera by far-right activist group Project Veritas.
Ever since the presidential election results declared Democrat Joe Biden a winner, President Donald Trump's campaign alleged the election being.
Rodriguez Gave Senior Citizen a Gift For Changing her Vote
The Project Veritas video showed Rodriguez convincing the voter — a senior citizen — change her preference from Republican to Democrat. Later she was also caught giving gifts to the same senior citizen.
RT reported that in the video Rodriguez admitted to often giving gifts to seniors and ex-prisoners in lieu of votes for certain candidates. Admitting that she is paid for her work, Rodriguez said, "Yeah, I'm getting the Biden vote out, but I mean I'm not going to do it for free – in other words, if they don't pay me, I'm like, 'excuse me?'"
In the later part, Rodriguez also identified a number of local officials for whom she had helped harvest ballots in exchange for money or political favors.
Founded in 2010, Project Veritas is an American far-right activist group founded James O'Keefe. However, the group has often being accused of deliberately spreading misinformation online through its questionable information-gathering tactics applied during the undercover sting operations.
Election Fraud Division Reviewed Hours of Unedited, Raw Footage
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that Rodriguez was charged with election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people voting by mail and unlawfully possessing an official ballot. If convicted, Rodriguez could face up to 20 years in prison.
KXAN reported that the video — a source of evidence used against Rodriguez — was taken last fall. The Election Fraud Division of his office reviewed "dozens of hours of unedited, raw footage" provided by the group, which ultimately led to Rodriguez's arrest," said Paxton adding that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
In a public statement, Paxton said that the claims that there is no voter fraud are false and misleading. "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. This is a victory for election integrity," he said.
