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AUSTIN, Texas – A Latino voting rights group called for a federal investigation Monday after its volunteers said Texas authorities raided their homes and seized phones and computers as part of an investigation into voter fraud by the state’s Republican attorney general.
No charges have been filed against any of the targets of last week’s searches in the San Antonio area. Attorney General Ken Paxton previously confirmed his office searched the house after a local prosecutor cited “allegations of election fraud and vote-rigging” during the 2022 election.
Some of the volunteers whose homes were searched, including an 80-year-old woman who told her co-workers that agents were in her home for two hours and took medication, along with her smartphone and watch, protested outside the attorney general’s office in San Antonio. request.
“We feel that our votes are being suppressed,” Roman Palomares, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Monday. “We’ll get to the point.”
The investigation is part of an election integrity unit that Paxton created in his office. Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The federal Department of Justice declined to comment.
According to Palomares, at least six members were searched. Among them was Manuel Medina, a San Antonio political consultant, who said his home was searched for several hours as agents seized documents, computers and cell phones. Medina is a former head of the Bexar County Democratic Party and is working on the campaign of Democratic candidate Cecilia Castellano, who was also searched.
Nine officers also went to the home of volunteer Lidia Martinez, 80, who said she was confused about why they were there.
“They sat me down and started searching my house, my storage room, my garage, my kitchen, everything,” Martinez said, questioning the other members, including Medina.
The search warrant ordered officials to search all election-related documents and seize Martinez’s devices.
“I’m not doing anything illegal,” Martinez told agents. “I only help the elderly.”
Voter fraud occurs in rare, typically isolated cases and is usually detected. Associated Press investigation In the 2020 presidential election, fewer than 475 cases of potential voter fraud were found among the 25.5 million votes cast in the six states where Trump and his allies contested his loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.