“Politiqueras,” roughly translates into “politickers.”
The FBI has a slightly more detailed translation: “Politiquera: A person who works for a candidate to encourage people to vote, to bring voters to the polls, to ensure that voters select the appropriate candidate, and to pay voters for their votes.”
Wait. What? Pay voters for their votes? Pay them to vote for the appropriate candidate? Why, that would be illegal! That would be voter fraud! Yes, it was.
In its January 12, 2014, article by Manny Fernandez headlined Texas Vote-Buying Case Casts Glare on Tradition of Election Day Goads, the New York Times would apparently like to take the hard edge off what is clearly vote-buying. The Times almost seems to wistfully hope readers believe that politiqueras are traditional cultural experience, an essential and accepted part of south Texas politics.
A news piece titled 3 Charged in Federal Voter Fraud Case aired on KRGV-TV out of Weslaco, TX, on December 31, 2013. It explained that, “Diana Castaneda, Guadalupe Escamilla and Rebecca Gonzalez are accused of paying for votes while working for candidates in Donna.”
A separate news story by KVEO-TV, Brownsville, TX, titled Former Brownsville resident accused of voter fraud explained how, “54 year old Sonia Solis allegedly cast five votes by absentee ballot in the names of 5 different people during the July 2012 Cameron County primary runoff elections.”
And who brought this vote buying into the light of day? Was it the Texas Secretary of State? No. Was it the Cameron County Clerk or Prosecuting Attorney? No. Was it the US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas? No. It was a small group of concerned citizens who called themselves Citizens Against Voter Abuse. C.A.V.A. was spearheaded by Mary Helen Flores. It’s purpose was spelled out well in the KRGV-TV story 3 Charged in Federal Voter Fraud Case.
C.A.V.A.’s Flores offered a particularly insightful reason for citizens wanting to wipe out voter fraud: “We have historically been neglected by the state and federal government, financially. The only way we are going to change that is by having an authentic electoral process.”
What’s the Idaho version of “politiqueras?” Let’s hope that Idaho’s new Secretary of State, whoever he or she may be, tries to find out and put a stop to it. A good start would be to honestly acknowledge that voter fraud can and does occur in Idaho, too.