Arizona City Council Member Indicted For 2020 Ballot Harvesting Scheme: AG

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Wednesday that two people were indicted for their alleged involvement in a 2020 ballot harvesting scheme in Yuma County.

Arizona elections officials count ballots in a file photo. (Matt York/AP Photo)

Gloria Lopez Torres and Nadia Guadalupe Lizarraga-Mayorquin, both of San Luis, face charges of conspiracy and ballot abuse, said the attorney general in a news release. Ballot harvesting is considered a class 6 felony.

Lopez Torres, notably, is currently a sitting San Luis Council member, according to local media.

They are accused of conducting a scheme to collect “early ballots from other voters” and deposit them in a ballot box during the state’s primary election in August 2020.

Torres is accused of collecting seven ballots from Lizarraga-Mayorquin, according to grand jury indictments (pdf) (pdf) that were returned earlier this month. Lizarraga-Mayorquin collected at least one ballot from a third party that was not disclosed.

State law only provides for a family member, household member, or caregiver to collect early ballots from another individual in Arizona, said the office of Brnovich, a Republican, in a news release.

The indictments allege that the unlawful activity started around July 12, 2020, and ran until Aug. 4, 2020—the primary election day. The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office obtained video footage of alleged ballot harvesting near a polling station in San Luis, the indictment said.

Former San Luis Mayor Guillermina Fuentes—who was serving as a local school board member—and another woman, Alma Yadira Juarez, were sentenced last week for their role in the same 2020 ballot-harvesting scheme. Fuentes, a Democrat, was ordered on Oct. 13 to turn herself into the Yuma County Jail, said Brnovich.

Both Fuentes and Juarez pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of ballot abuse.

“A group of subjects, lead by Guillermina Fuentes were seen on video manning a table and appearing to be supporting particular candidates,” the report from the Arizona Attorney General’s office said. “A female identified as Alma Juarez approached the table and made contact with a second female identified as Guillermina Fuentes. Fuentes is ultimately observed taking a ballot from Juarez.”

Since the 2020 presidential election, there have been accusations of voter fraud that swung the election out of former President Donald Trump’s favor.

Arizona has been mired in claims of voter fraud since the 2020 presidential election during which former President Donald Trump narrowly lost the state to President Joe Biden. This case, however, slightly predates that contest.

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