Yesterday, NewsMax reported that an Arizona woman has been found guilty in a ballot collecting scheme in Arizona.
The article reports:
An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that saw the more serious forgery and conspiracy charges dismissed and limited any potential for a lengthy prison sentence.
Guillermina Fuentes, 66, could get probation for running what Arizona attorney general’s office investigators said was a sophisticated operation using her status as a well-known Democrat operative in the border city of San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and in some cases fill out their ballots.
Prosecutors were apparently unable to prove the most serious charges, dropping three felony counts alleging that Fuentes filled out one voter’s ballot and forged signatures on some of the four ballots she illegally returned for people who were not family members.
Admittedly, the prosecutors did not prove the more serious charges, but the question remains as to exactly how many ballots she legally returned versus how many ballots she illegally returned.
The article notes:
Attorney general’s office investigation records obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show that fewer than a dozen ballots could be linked to Fuentes, not enough to make a difference in all but the tightest local races.
The office of Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican seeking his party’s U.S. Senate nomination, provided the records after delays of more than 15 months.
It is the only case ever brought by the attorney general under the 2016 “ballot harvesting” law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.
Investigators wrote that it appeared Fuentes used her position as a powerful figure in the heavily Mexican American community to get people to give her or others their ballots to return to the polls. Fuentes and her co-defendant were seen with several mail-in envelopes outside a cultural center in San Luis on the day of the 2020 primary election, the reports show. The ballots were taken inside and dropped in a ballot box.
She was videotaped by a write-in candidate who called the Yuma County sheriff. The reports said the video showed her marking at least one ballot, but that charge was among those dropped.
I am more than a little skeptical of some of the details provided in this article. If they had films of her marking a ballot, why did they drop the charges? My feeling is that this is simply the tip of the iceberg and our fearless leaders are reluctant to pursue it too aggressively for fear of what they might uncover. The good news is that there are a few non-political private groups that are working toward uncovering the fraud in the 2020 election.