OPINION:
Noe Olvera had a good side-hustle while working as a driver for the U.S. Postal Service. When it came time to deliver applications and ballots, the details of his daily route became valuable intel. During the 2014 Democratic primaries in Texas, the Rio Grande Valley mailman accepted cash bribes from ballot harvesters, provincially known as “politqueras,” to share the recipient voter addresses in advance. The bribes-paying operatives were involved in the Hidalgo County sheriff’s race, according to the FBI.
Ballot harvesting conspiracies have similar traits regardless of location. One element stands out the most: They target some of the most vulnerable communities. The harvesting process, at its most fundamental level, is ends-justified exploitation by mercenary political operatives and victory-entitled ideologues alike.
Mailman Noe, according to his accusers and former accomplices, was no different. An FBI-identified accomplice wrote in an affidavit that he would allow harvesters to tail his USPS truck and signal each home receiving a ballot. He also reportedly played the politiquera role on federal time. He allegedly offered assistance with naturalization for a vote. A “mentally disabled” individual was offered money if he participated, the document explained.
Harvesting efforts are not unique to South Texas. In 2018, four Fort Worth area women were indicted for the voter fraud ring’s harvesting operation in 2016, Texas prosecutors explained. Together they racked up 30 counts of state felony charges. Texas allows elderly citizens to request absentee ballots based solely on age — a ready-made cohort for exploitation especially as the natural effects of aging take away mobility, vision and cognition.
One blind victim, then-76-year-old Minnie Barela, told investigators one of the women knocked on her door to offer assistance with completing her ballot. Minnie Barela became suspicious only after she started trying to mark up her romantic partner’s ballot — who resided at a nursing home.
The nearby Dallas City Council elections in 2017 were marred by harvesting as well. Though the Texas attorney general and Dallas County prosecutors have yet to map a conspiracy in its entirety, there are repeating patterns from elsewhere. More than 700 absentee ballots were impounded. Elderly Dallas residents and their caretakers complained of receiving ballots they did not request. One man was indicted and later pleaded down a charge for unlawfully returning someone else’s ballot.
The Dallas City Council “reluctantly” accepted the results of the election during the same hearing in which the county election administrator disclosed that some harvested ballot applications were completed in the names of deceased registrants.
Before any ballot harvest, a seeding must first occur. This act is not limited to ordering up mail ballots. Published research by the Public Interest Legal Foundation uncovered the case of Sadik, a Sudanese refugee who took up initial residence in Pittsburgh. The man urgently requested that his voter registration be cancelled in 2016. He explained that he spoke no English and did not understand what he was signing when a man “approached [him] to help me find a job.”
A year later, the Nebraska Democratic Party publicized welcome baskets intended for newly arriving refugees. Tucked inside were voter registration applications.
This pattern brings us to Minneapolis and the steady drip, drip of footage produced by James O’Keefe and Project Veritas. All the ingredients are here: loosened mail-voting rules; an immigrant Somali community with language and cultural barriers; willing harvesters; plus the means and motive to win elections at a cost.
We see video of a harvester identified as Liban Mohamed with dozens and perhaps more ballots sitting on his dashboard, bragging about purchasing them. Community members share their own personal experience with such activities. It is obvious with each interview that no person is surprised by the actions unfolding around them.
The most devastating aspect of this footage is what the apparent harvester chose to exploit. The man targets his neighbors because many came to a country and culture very different from their homeland. And yet, that base-level corruption from the place they left is knocking on their new door to take advantage of a fundamental right they were supposed to enjoy as an American.
Set aside the election integrity concerns for a moment. The footage shows how ballot harvesting seizes upon and poisons the hope our immigration system is intended to provide. Victims are conned into believing they have not landed on greener grass — and they should accept it.
Ballot harvesting cheapens our election process, desensitizes us to lawlessness near home and yields corrupt actions from elected officials thereafter. After all, mailman Noe’s actions affected an election to replace former Sheriff Lupe Trevino — a man who went to prison for accepting and laundering drug money linking back to the Gulf Cartel.
• Logan Churchwell is the communications and research director for the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
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