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DEVINE — In this small town of a few thousand people southwest of San Antonio, Tomas Ramirez III spent a decadeslong law career walking his clients through an array of legal procedures — indictments, arrests, arraignments — as they collectively faced a range of criminal charges.
Ramirez never imagined he’d get entangled in the same criminal justice system he helped his clients navigate. Until a sergeant investigator in the Texas attorney general’s office called him in February 2021.
The state official told Ramirez, who by then was a justice of the peace in Medina County, that Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office was pursuing criminal election fraud charges against him. An indictment accused Ramirez of illegally possessing absentee ballots of 17 voters during the 2018 GOP primary in which he toppled a Republican incumbent by nearly 100 votes. Three others were also accused in the case.
Ramirez said he never had any voter’s absentee ballots. The indictment did not explain how the alleged scheme worked or the role Ramirez was accused of playing. Ramirez, who denies committing any election crime, said the alleged scheme was never explained. The attorney general’s office did not respond to questions about how it alleges Ramirez harvested votes.
To Ramirez, the indictment was ludicrous.
“Nobody runs a ballot harvesting operation for 17 votes....
Irvine, CA (PinionNewswire) — Powerful congressional candidate–and complex litigation attorney–Eric J. Troutman is raising concerns about an organization seemingly tricking consumers and voters int...