Texas AG's Office Investigating Allegations Of Voter Fraud In Tarrant County
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas Attorney General's Office is investigating allegations of voter fraud in Tarrant County.
The probe involves irregularities with mail-in ballots.
Aaron Harris, a Republican consultant from North Richland Hills, said he prompted the state's voter fraud investigation into mail-in ballots in Tarrant County.
Harris said he and his team reviewed thousands of mail-in ballots on behalf of two clients who ran unsuccessfully last year for the Tarrant Regional Water Board.
He claims they discovered thousands of cases in which voter signatures on applications for mail-in ballots didn't match the voter signatures on the envelopes that contained their completed ballots.
"This isn't a couple dozen, couple hundred. And one of the reasons the numbers get so large, is because they do it year in, year out," said Harris. "This isn't just something that was last year or this year."
Harris said he filed his complaint with the Secretary of State's Office one year ago this month.
The Secretary of State found violations involving mail-in ballots over several elections in Tarrant County, and in January of this year, referred the case to the Attorney General's Office to investigate.
Harris said he'll reveal the results of his investigation at a community meeting Monday night.
"We're going to be naming elected officials who are in office illegitimately through voter fraud. We're also going to list many other elected officials who benefitted from the fraud," said Harris.
Former Democratic State Representative Lon Burnam of Fort Worth filed a lawsuit after he lost his re-election bid to Ramon Romero in 2014 by 111 votes.
Burnam dropped his suit after he says judges wouldn't grant him access to mail in ballot information.
From his office at the State Capitol Monday, Romero said he doesn't believe anything would have changed the outcome of his or other elections.
Burnam disagrees.
"I think there's been a long history of problems with early mail-in vote programs," said Burnam. "Am I happy about the timing? No."
That's because he says he worries that news of the investigation will intimidate some people and keep them from voting.
Rep. Romero agrees.
The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office released a statement Monday.
Communications Officer Samantha Jordan said, "We're not currently involved with the AG's investigation. Protecting the purity of the voter registration process goes directly to the heart of our system of government."
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