Texas primary dispute highlights surge in assisted-voter filings

Democrat Martha Morales, who lost a Zapata County primary by 66 votes, filed a lawsuit alleging illegal assisted voting and ballot fraud, seeking placement on the November ballot.

In the tight Zapata County Democratic primary, Martha Morales was defeated by incumbent Joe Rathmell by 66 votes and has launched a civil suit claiming widespread election fraud. The petition points to 358 assisted voters among 4,517 ballots, with ten individuals—especially three county employees, Martha Garcia, Laura Garza and Norma Garcia—providing assistance to nearly 90% of those voters, and in some cases the assistants themselves also received assistance.

Morales alleges illegal practices such as duplicate ballots, missing chain-of-custody documentation, and vote-harvesting altered the outcome, and she has appealed to the Republican Texas Secretary of State and Attorney General for relief. Zapata County Clerk Mary Jayne Bonoan says a recount confirmed the original totals and that no ballots are missing, while Judge Rathmell rejected all allegations in his initial response.

An affidavit further claims a campaign operative paid a sworn assistant $500 to recruit voters for Rathmell. The case remains unresolved as the August 17 deadline approaches for Morales to qualify for the November 3 ballot.