Republican politicians have been focused on voter fraud as a hot-button issue for most of the last decade. Despite repeated claims of rampant illegal voting, election and law enforcement officials have found no evidence that its a widespread problem.
The data (or lack thereof) makes it all the more noteworthy when a case of voter fraud is discovered. A story emerged late this week about a Texas woman who was sentenced to eight years in prison, thanks to some confusion on her part on whether she was allowed to vote or not.
Rosa Maria Ortega, 37, is a permanent resident of the United States who the New York Times reports was brought to America as an infant. The Times relayed a piece of her family history, and shared how she first gained the ability to vote:
Ms. Ortega, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, came to Texas with her mother when she was an infant. More than a decade later, the family was scattered after the mother was arrested and deported. Two brothers born in Dallas automatically gained citizenship; Ms. Ortega became a permanent resident and gained a green card, her brother Tony Ortega, 35, said in an interview.
The issue for Ortega was simple: people with "permanent resident" status are not permitted to vote in national, state, or local elections that require citizenship to cast a ballot. Exceptions to this rule in a modern setting are rare, and provisions to allow non-citizen voters to participate in local elections have often been met with dramatic pushback.
Unaware of this distinction, it was Ortega's next move that raised alarm and sealed her fate:
Ms. Ortega moved to neighboring Tarrant County and again registered, but this time checked a box affirming that she was not a citizen. When her application was rejected in March 2015, the trial showed, she called election officials and told them that she had previously voted in Dallas County without difficulty.
Ortega was close to escaping serious punishment for the offense, and her attorney supposedly set up a plea deal with Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton. County DA Sharen Wilson axed the deal, and publicly signaled her intent to crack down on voter fraud.
"In all aspects of society, people verify their identity," Wilson said. "Why not for voting? This case shows a clear need to enforce the laws we already have."
Prior to her conviction, Ortega was a registered Republican. She voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, and in 2014 she voted for Paxton -- the man whose office would eventually prosecute her -- in his successful bid for Texas AG.
The eight-year sentence and eventual deportation will have far-reaching effects on Ortega's family. Her four children, all between the ages of 13 and 16, are currently being supervised by other family members and Ortega's fiancee, the latter of whom has no legal custody of the children.
President Donald Trump has doubled down on his party's insistence that voter fraud is an issue. He has publicly called for a "major" investigation of the 2016 election, echoing widely-discredited claims that three-to-five million illegal votes were cast last November.
