Voter-fraud cases targeted Democrats

Posted: Monday, May 19, 2008 at 9:49 a.m.

DALLAS (AP) -- A published report says Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has prosecuted nothing but Democrats since he said two years ago that the state faced an epidemic of vote fraud.

The Dallas Morning News says the 26 cases have involved mostly blacks or Hispanics.

Democrats accused Abbott of conducting a partisan campaign to intimidate minority voters.

The cases have usually resulted in small fines and little or no jail time.

None of the cases involved large schemes with the potential to tip elections.

Abbott established a special vote-fraud unit in his office, used a $1.4 million federal grant and sent investigators to look for fraud.

Most of the cases his office pursued involved mail-in ballots.

In 18 of the 26 cases, the voters were eligible and their votes were properly cast, but the people who gathered them for mailing were prosecuted.

State law bans carrying someone else's completed ballot to the mailbox unless the carrier's name and address are on the envelope.

Matt Angle of the Lone Star Project, a group that supports Democrats, said Abbott has mostly gone after people in heavily Democratic precincts who helped elderly or disabled neighbors vote.

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