POLITIQUEROS IN HERNANDEZ HARVESTER MACHINE INDICTED

By Juan Montoya
A Cameron County grand jury has indicted two of the Hernandez vote-harvesting machine most loyal members on five counts of method of returning a marked ballot without the voter's consent.
Jose Angel Garza, also known as "Joey Garza," 37, was arrested last night and is being held on a $20,000 bond.His father-in-law Rafael Angel  Elizondo, 64, was said to be in New York and will be arrested and booked upon his return.
The charges were brought against Garza and Elizondo by prosecutors with the Texas Attorney General's Office.
The AG's Office had not released information on the specifics or voters in the charges but it is speculated that they arose from Garza's involvement in local elections. A press release by the Cameron County District Attorney's Office indicates that the five counts of tampering with a marked ballot against both men were committed on or about July 31, 2012.
During the 2012 runoff election for JP 2-2 between Yolanda Begum and Erin Hernandez Garcia, Garza and Elizondo were identified  as two of the Hernandez's most loyal politiqueros.
The same politiqueros and politiqueras identified with the vote-harvesting machine that delivered the votes to Ernie Hernandez's wife Norma, were identified by Begum in a lawsuit in 2012 for manipulating the mail-in vote of the elderly and mentally impaired. In a couple of cases, illiterate voters were said to have voted by mail.

In that primary, Erin Hernandez Garcia had lost by some 500 votes and ended up winning with less than 200 during the runoff.
In the graphic included here, the voter assistant who hauled in the elderly voters in rented vans for Hernandez is identified as Garza, who also signed his name on countless mail-in ballots. Yet, none of the voters interviewed by investigators recall seeing him or fellow politiquero Ralph Elizondo pick up their ballots at their homes.
Elizondo's name also appears on some of the mail-in ballots.
In an independent investigation conducted by Begum and members of Citizens Against Voter Abuse (CAVA), it was found that a cadre of politiqueros and politqueras under the direction of Norma Hernandez had engaged in blatant acts of voter fraud involving the mail-in ballots and early voting by elderly clients of adult day-care clients. The group turned over their findings to the FBI who later contacted the Texas AG Office.

Begum also filed a lawsuit against Garcia in the 357th District Court and charged that her family and network of politiqueras like Margarita Ozuna, Garza and Elizondo – among others – used numerous illegal tactics to obtain votes in the runoff: discarding or altering mail-in votes intended for Begum; paying personnel at adult day care centers and nursing homes to allow drivers to take vans full of voters, many elderly or mentally disabled, and influencing their votes; taking mail-in ballots from voters; and offering meals and gift cards in exchange for votes.
Ozuna pleaded guilty on her charges involving the mail-in ballots and paid fines and performed community service, including a stipulation that she refrain from taking part in political activity for a year.
Garza has been used by numerous candidates for public office. In the graphic at left Garza is seen with Brownsville Independent School District candidate (and later winner) Cesar Lopez at one of his campaign functions.
During the Erin Hernandez campaign for Justice of the Peace 2-2, Garza's name appears on voter assistant lists showing he was one of the operatives who hauled in the elderly voters from local adult day care centers in vans provided by the Hernandez camp. His name also appears on mail-in ballots collected by other politiqueras. When the elderly voters were asked if they knew who he was, to a person they all said they didn't and couldn't explain why his name was on their ballot envelopes as having collected the ballots.
The DA's press release indicates that the investigation continues, and more indictments could follow.