Texas Democrats Investigated for Encouraging Non-Citizens to Vote Illegally

© press

The Texas Democratic Party is being investigated after it was alleged that non-citizens had been sent voter-registration forms that had been interfered with to encourage them to vote illegally as citizens.

According to Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Democrats are under investigation after being accused of sending out voting forms to immigrants with the citizenship box already checked “Yes.”

A probe was launched following new complaints filed Thursday asking prosecutors to examine what laws may have been broken.

District attorneys and the federal Justice Department were alerted to the pre-filled applications by the Public Interest Legal Foundation - a nonprofit specializing in election integrity.

The complaints also included a signed affidavit from a man who said some of his relatives, who aren’t citizens, received the mailing that encouraged them to make fraudulent applications.

Logan Churchwell, a spokesperson for the PILF, a group that’s made its mark policing states’ voter registration practices, slammed the Dems for attempting to invite foreign meddling in US elections, saying:

“This is how the Texas Democratic Party is inviting foreign influence in an election in a federal election cycle.”

The Texas secretary of state’s office also reported similar complaints, both from immigrants and from people who said they got suspicious mailings asking them to register their dead relatives to vote.

Earlier this week, Neon Nettle reported on the arrest of four members of a voter fraud ring in Texas who were caught rigging the votes for Democratic candidates ahead of the 2016 primary elections.

The all-female gang was apprehended last week following a federal investigation, with all four women facing felony charges.

The women are accused of being part of, what Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office called, an organized voter fraud ring in Fort Worth, designed to swing elections in favor of the Democrats.

Paxton’s office said the voter fraud charges involve mail-in ballots sent in ahead of the 2016 primary election in Texas, with elderly voters on the north side of Fort Worth being the prime target of the ring.

© press

According to Fox News, following the reports of the latest alleged violation, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the issue is “is being investigated” and “there will be serious consequences” if confirmed.

“A complaint says the Texas Democratic Party asked noncitizens to register to vote, sending applications with citizenship box pre-checked. This is being investigated. If true there will be serious consequences,” he wrote in a tweet.

A complaint says the Texas Democratic Party asked noncitizens to register to vote, sending applications with citizenship box pre-checked. This is being investigated. If true there will be serious consequences. #txlege #tcot #PJNET https://t.co/dgSPT8f77G

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) October 18, 2018

PILF said the applications were circulated around the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas sometime between late September and early October and some lawfully present non-citizens received the forms.

The group published all the documents related to the election registration irregularity, including pictures of the applications where boxes asking whether the applicant is both 18 and a U.S. citizen were already checked in the “Yes” field.

The group also included a signed affidavit from David C. Kifuri Jr, who said his non-citizen relatives received the application form from the state Democratic Party.

“I know from previous work experience … that it is a crime to register to vote in Texas if you are a felon with an incomplete sentence or a non-U.S. citizen.

"I also understand that a non-U.S. citizen can face criminal and immigration jeopardy for misrepresenting citizenship status for the purpose of voter registration,” Kifuri stated.

© press

Texas’ Secretary of State Sam Taylor told the Washington Times that some non-citizens contacted his office asking whether they were was any law changes that gave them the right to vote.

He added that the state law prohibits encouraging anyone to lie in their voter application form, but it will be up to the investigators to decide if pre-checking a box claiming the applicant is a U.S. citizen is a violation of the law.

PILF has previously warned about non-citizens increasingly found on voter rolls in states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Virginia.

The group said some non-citizens even managed to cast their ballots in elections.

For instance, in 2017, the group said that nearly 5,600 people on the voter rolls in Virginia were deemed as non-citizens, with a third of them voting in previous elections.

But the case in Texas is different from other states, where a lot of non-citizens often get automatically registered, as it was a political party that urged people to register.

READ MORE: Voter Fraud Ring Caught Rigging Elections for Democrats in Texas