(The Center Square) – A Zapata County judge, his family members and campaign staff were served with search warrants as part of an ongoing investigation into voter fraud in the southern Texas county.
The allegations, according to affidavits unsealed as part of the case, involve a campaign allegedly paying staff to assist hundreds of voters, telling them who to vote for and watching as they vote, transporting and paying the voters to vote in exchange for dropping community service hours and/or fines the voters previously were assessed for wrongdoing.
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