C.A.V.A., VOTE FRAUD, FEATURED ON NPR'S SERIES

By John Burnett/NPR

(This week, NPR examines public corruption in South Texas. The FBI has launched a task force to clean up entrenched wrongdoing by public servants in the Rio Grande Valley. In the final part of this series, we examine vote-stealing and election fraud.)

A new FBI anti-corruption task force is trying to clean up the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. According to the Justice Department, in 2013, more public officials were convicted for corruption in South Texas than in any other region of the country. One of the practices the task force is looking at is vote-stealing.
They're called politiqueras — a word unique to the border that means campaign worker. It's a time-honored tradition down in the land of grapefruit orchards and Border Patrol checkpoints. If a local candidate needs dependable votes, he or she goes to a politiquera.
In recent years, losing candidates in local elections began to challenge vote harvesting by politiqueras in the Rio Grande Valley, and they shared their investigations with authorities. After the 2012 election cycle, the Justice Department and the Texas attorney general's office filed charges.
"Yes, there is a concern in which the politiqueras are being paid to then go and essentially round up voters and have them vote a certain way," says James Sturgis, assistant U.S. attorney in McAllen.
In the town of Donna, five politiqueras pleaded guilty to election fraud. Voters were bribed with cigarettes, beer or dime bags of cocaine. In neighboring Cameron County, nine politiqueras were charged with manipulating mail-in ballots.
The self-anointed queen of politiqueras in Cameron County is 86-year-old Herminia Becerra. She says she's been working in campaigns for nearly 60 years.
Becerra has short, white hair and quick, flashing eyes. She throws back her head and belts out an original campaign song in a husky voice: "Y ganamos y ganamos, con Cesar de Leon. Y votamos y votamos, por Cesar de Leon. Para comisionado de ciudad de Brownsville."
"We win with Cesar de Leon. We vote for Cesar de Leon, for city commissioner of Brownsville," the song goes.
Becerra is one of few politiqueras in the Valley willing to interview with a reporter. She says she has never been indicted for election fraud and has nothing to hide. She says all she does is talk to voters, hold political signs and shout into a bullhorn.
If a candidate needed 200 votes — which in these small precincts can win a race — could she help?
"Oh, yes. I know it can be done because I've done it," she says without hesitation. "I know lots of people, and people know me. If I do a favor for you, you're grateful and your whole family is grateful. And you're going to tell your whole family, 'Help Herminia.' "
Hustling votes has a rich political history in America. Chicagoans have been known to vote from beyond the grave. Democratic machines from New Orleans to New York City have hauled voters to the polls. In the Valley, it's all about mail-in ballots. A politiquera has a friendly relationship with a group of elderly voters, who are eligible to use mail-in ballots. They may be nursing home residents, neighbors or clients at activity centers for seniors.
A grass-roots organization called Citizens Against Voter Abuse (CAVA) organized after the 2010 elections conducted hundreds of interviews with elderly Mexican-American women who CAVA believes had their mail-in ballots manipulated. The founder, Mary Helen Flores, gives a typical story.

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