‘I Feel Violated': Senior Citizens Rattled by Voter Fraud in West Dallas, Grand Prairie

If he exists, a man named Jose Rodriguez has been a busy campaign worker lately -- and potentially a criminal one, too. In the past few weeks, dozens of ballots in bright green envelopes showed up at homes in West Dallas and Grand Prairie. The residents -- all of retirement age -- were confused. They hadn't requested mail-in ballots for the May 6 municipal elections, but yet, here they were. When those same voters, all at or past retirement age, called the Dallas County Elections Department, one by one, many were told the same thing: Your signature appears on the mail-in ballot application. And a guy named Jose Rodriguez signed it too, saying he helped you. Only people who are 65 and older, or disabled, are eligible to vote by mail. It's not illegal for campaigns to help someone fill out an application to vote by mail, though it is illegal to try to influence the person's vote. But the residents in these cases say their signatures on those ballot applications were forged. "I don't know a Jose Rodriguez," said Mary Milam, 67, who lives in West Dallas. "I'm angry. How are you just going to forge my name? That's wrong." Milam and her neighbors are among more than 100 voters of retirement age who have reported complaints to the county in recent weeks. It's the largest number of fraud complaints the county has ever received, said Elections Administrator Toni Pippins-Poole.   Continue reading...