A small county allegedly has a Texas-sized voter fraud problem, as a grand jury indicted six people, including local officials.
The six were charged in an alleged vote harvesting scheme in Frio County, Texas, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office announced Wednesday.
Several states have cracked down on ballot harvesting, which is when political operatives distribute and collect large quantities of absentee ballots.
Frio County Judge Rochelle Camacho, a Democrat and the county’s top official, was charged with three counts of vote harvesting, according to the attorney general’s office.
Pearsall City Council members Ramiro Trevino and Racheal Garza were both charged with one count of vote harvesting. Pearsall Independent School District Trustee Adriann Ramirez was charged with three counts of vote harvesting, according to the attorney general’s office.
Two others charged were not public officials. Former Frio County Elections Administrator Carlos Segura was charged with one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, according to the state attorney general’s office. Frio County resident Rosa Rodriguez was charged with two counts of vote harvesting.
All are presumed innocent.
Paxton, a Republican, said his office has worked with Texas 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Louis, also a Republican, in the investigation.
“The people of Texas deserve fair and honest elections, not backroom deals and political insiders rigging the system,” said Paxton, who is challenging incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a 2026 GOP primary.
“Elected officials who think they can cheat to stay in power will be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Paxton continued in the public statement. “My office will continue to work with Frio County District Attorney Audrey Louis to protect the integrity of our elections.”
Frio County has just 18,385 residents with 5,144 households, according to the Census Bureau. Pearsall is the county seat.
Texas has experienced several voter fraud scandals at the local level, including two elections overturned in 2018 in Kaufman County and for the city of Mission.
Last August, the attorney general’s office executed multiple search warrants in Texas counties Frio, Atascosa, and Bexar as part of a multiyear election integrity investigation into what Paxton said were credible allegations of vote harvesting.
On May 1, the Frio County district attorney’s office and the election integrity unit for the state attorney general’s office presented a criminal vote harvesting case to a grand jury in Frio County. The suspects were arrested on May 2, with the exception of Camacho, who will be processed at a later date. The attorney general’s office announced the indictments on May 7.
The Daily Signal emailed Camacho for comment and called her office. A county staffer said Friday she was out on medical leave.
The Daily Signal did not locate a phone number for the city council members. City hall did not provide contact information but provided a written statement.
“The City of Pearsall is aware of indictments recently received by the 81st Judicial District Attorney from an investigation conducted by the Texas Office of Attorney General,” city spokeswoman Bianca Ramirez told The Daily Signal in a statement. “Due to the sensitivity of this matter and in our efforts to not interfere with any existing or ongoing investigations, the city has no comment at this time.”
The Daily Signal also left a voicemail with the Pearsall Independent School District for Ramirez. The number listed for Ramirez, the school board member, on Whitepages.com was nonworking.
Segura, the former election official, told The New York Times, “The charges are ridiculous,” but added his lawyer advised him not to comment further.
Mary Moore, who lost to Camacho in the 2022 Democrat primary for the judge’s office, first made the allegations, Spectrum News reported. Moore said Camacho hired a woman to collect ballots, paying her up to $2,500 to collect mail ballots, ballot-by-mail applications, and even driving others to the polls. Investigators alleged the harvesting scheme targeted elderly voters. Investigators also say the main vote harvester for Camacho apparently hid ballots under her shirt and used different vehicles “to throw off investigators.”
