Texas County Judge, Sheriff Under Investigation for Alleged Vote Harvesting

The Center Square's Bethany Blankley reports that search warrants have been executed and phones and bank records seized from multiple Zapata County, Texas officials — including a county judge, the sheriff, a sheriff's secretary, a campaign staffer and a justice of the peace — as part of an investigation into alleged voter harvesting, bribery and abuse of official capacity. None of the individuals responded to requests for comment. The allegations stem from a pattern Democratic candidates and voters have alleged for years in the border county, including claims that campaign staff directed, transported and paid voters, and that community service hours or fines were dropped in exchange for votes. Zapata County Judge Joe Rathmel has denied the allegations against his campaign; secretary of state records show nearly 90 of several hundred allegedly fraudulent votes in the March 2026 Democratic primary were cast by voters claiming to need assistance from three county employees. A related civil case was dismissed on a statutory deadline before evidence was presented.