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Mexican National Sentenced To 8 Years For Voter Fraud

(Photo by J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)

Mary Lou Lang Contributor
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A Mexican national was convicted of voter fraud and sentenced to eight years in prison and fined $5,000 for casting ballots during a 10-year period in Texas.

Rosa Maria Ortega falsely claimed U.S. citizenship on a voter registration form in Dallas County, Texas, according to the Texas attorney general’s office. She also attempted to register in Tarrant County but election officials rejected her application after she admitted she was a non-citizen.

“This case shows how serious Texas is about keeping its elections secure, and the outcome sends a message that violators of the state’s election law will be prosecuted to the fullest,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a prepared statement on Thursday.

“Safeguarding the integrity of our elections is essential to preserving our democracy,” Paxton said.

During this week’s trial, it was revealed that Ortega falsely claimed U.S. citizenship on a voter registration form in Dallas County and cast ballots there five times between 2004 and 2014.

Evidence also showed her attempt to register in Tarrant County.

Though her attempt to register there was rejected, she again applied five months later and claimed she was a citizen, according to Breitbart.

Ortega, 37, was indicted in November 2015, and accused of voting in the November 2012 General Election and in the May 2014 primary run-off election. Ortega did so “when she knew she was not a United States citizen,” according to the indictment.

President Donald Trump, in an interview on Super Bowl Sunday with Bill O’Reilly, was asked about his claims of voter fraud and said, “It has to do with the registration. And when you look at the registration, and you see dead people that have voted, when you see people that are registered in two states — and that voted in two states — when you see other things, when you see illegals, people that are not citizens and they are on the registration rolls. Look, Bill, we can be babies, but you take a look at the registration. You have illegals, you have dead people, you have this — it’s really a bad situation. It’s really bad.”