This Woman Got 8 Years In Prison For Illegal Voting. Texas Is Showing No Mercy

[biglawnmower]

Your demonization is naked.

lol (laugh out loud) youre the one trying to excuse a criminals actions. youre clearly upset that justice was served. are you mad because she voted for your party?

she CLEARLY broke the law and will face some serious hard time.

good riddance to that human scum

 

[ecofarm]

I never said that she was "garbage" but noted that she has committed many felonies and should be deported.

So, not a "piece of garbage criminal"? I didn't think so. One would need a pretty ****ed up point of view to see her like that.

 

[ttwtt78640]

So, not a "piece of garbage criminal"? I didn't think so. One would need a pretty ****ed up point of view to see her like that.

You must have confused me with another poster.

 

[ecofarm]

You must have confused me with another poster.

I was asking if you shared that opinion. Your response told me you don't.

 

[ecofarm]

You must have confused me with another poster.

To be fair, quite the opposite. I was perhaps relying on your disdain of demonization to act as a foil against hate.

 

[SonOfDaedalus]

Then we need to give murderers more time.

And that's why we are the world's biggest incarcerator. The land of the free has more of it's citizens in prison than any other nation. That's thanks to people like you.

You claim to want smaller government yet you support a massive prison state that criminalizes and punishes everything harshly and has no oversight of law enforcement.

 

[Acadia]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-voter-fraud-prison_us_5c01a9afe4b0a173c02305c1

Rosa Maria Ortega’s case illustrates the enormous discretion that prosecutors have in how harshly they pursue voter fraud.

A Texas appeals court last week refused to overturn the conviction of a 39-year-old mother of four who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal voting. She could also be deported.

There’s little dispute that Rosa Maria Ortega did in fact break the law. Ortega came to the United States from Mexico as a baby and was living in the U.S. as a legal permanent resident. Although it’s against the law for non-citizens to vote in Texas, Ortega registered to vote in 2002 as a Republican and then cast ballots multiple times over more than a decade. She tried to register again after moving in 2014, which is when state investigators noticed something was amiss. They arrested her in January 2016.
=======================================
She lied & voted multiple times despite being a non-citizen. Texas is tough on law breakers.

Sorry if this has been answered, but why on earth would she not become a citizen and have the right to vote?

 

[Crossfire]

This country incarcerates way more people than it should. This, to me, would be an instance of cruel and unusual punishment. Fine her to the point it hurts and gets the message across, but incarceration should be only for people that could be considered a danger to others.

 

[apdst]

It's not like she voted multiple times in one election, she just voted (after she registered, making herself available for jury duty). She was more engaged in our political process than many Americans. She was willing to take on her duty on a jury. She wanted her voice to be heard, to make a difference, to take part in this grand American experiment in democracy.

People get less time for murder.

Murder should be a mandatory death sentence, anyway.

 

[SonOfDaedalus]

How Republicans turned America into a giant prison

Republicans are always working to make us #1!

 

[uptower]

They'd really be all in if she were a Democrat. Imagine.

Of course it would better fit the right wing narrative that democrats are buoyed by 'millions' of illegal voters.

What this does demonstrate is that it is the exception that proves the rule. There's miniscule in-person voter fraud taking place (31 in a billion last count) and it is no excuse for deregistering millions in order to tip the scales in an election.

This case shows that an illegal vote can be cast for either party, by an otherwise harmless individual and is eventually caught and prosecuted. There really is almost no threat from the bugbear of 'voter fraud'.

 

[Lursa]

Why pay to keep her here in jail?

Deport her.

 

[Excon]

How Republicans turned America into a giant prison

Republicans are always working to make us #1!

iLOL
1. You provided no correlation let alone causation that shows Republicans did any such thing.
2. The Sentencing Reform Act was Passed by a Democrat controlled house and a Republican controlled Senate. It was first introduced in the House by a Democrat.

And that's why we are the world's biggest incarcerator. The land of the free has more of it's citizens in prison than any other nation. That's thanks to people like you.

No, it is thanks to people who commit crimes and actually deserve to be in prison.

 

[AGENT J]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-voter-fraud-prison_us_5c01a9afe4b0a173c02305c1

Rosa Maria Ortega’s case illustrates the enormous discretion that prosecutors have in how harshly they pursue voter fraud.

A Texas appeals court last week refused to overturn the conviction of a 39-year-old mother of four who has been sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal voting. She could also be deported.

There’s little dispute that Rosa Maria Ortega did in fact break the law. Ortega came to the United States from Mexico as a baby and was living in the U.S. as a legal permanent resident. Although it’s against the law for non-citizens to vote in Texas, Ortega registered to vote in 2002 as a Republican and then cast ballots multiple times over more than a decade. She tried to register again after moving in 2014, which is when state investigators noticed something was amiss. They arrested her in January 2016.
=======================================
She lied & voted multiple times despite being a non-citizen. Texas is tough on law breakers.

FOr more info on this
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/te...entenced-to-8-years-in-prison-for-voter-fraud

An appeals court upheld last year’s conviction of a Texas woman who officials said voted illegally multiple times, Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.
Rosa Maria Ortega, a green card holder, is a permanent resident who lives in the Dallas area. On voter registration forms, Ortega marked she was a U.S. citizen – allowing her to vote “illegally for more than 10 years,” Paxton’s office said.
The mother of four was sentenced to eight years in prison with parole eligibility in less than one year. She was also fined $5,000. The Texas 2nd Court of Appeals upheld the conviction Tuesday.
The attorney general’s office said it had offered Ortega a lesser punishment so she could avoid prison – just two years of community supervision – but she declined and chose a jury trial instead.

I agree the 8 years is way to harsh but it seems she got bad information/advice from somebody and could of just had two years community service
Crime is a crime and she is guilty of many . . .

 

[ttwtt78640]

To be fair, quite the opposite. I was perhaps relying on your disdain of demonization to act as a foil against hate.

I generally ignore such comments which define (equate?) folks who commit crimes with being less than human. The argument that multiple felony convictions should not result in prison time followed by deportation because the perp is a mother/father I will not ignore.

 

[ecofarm]

I generally ignore such comments which define (equate?) folks who commit crimes with being less than human. The argument that multiple felony convictions should not result in prison time followed by deportation because the perp is a mother/father I will not ignore.

I think it's practically demonization to ignore the specific felony. One cannot omit that and claim honesty. Her felony is registering and voting. She didn't put on a disguise or impersonate anyone. She registered, she went to the proper voting station, showed ID and voted. For 20 years she committed no other crime. A model citizen, were she one. Using "multiple felony" as a blanket description is unfair.

It's one crime. Pretending to have a voice.

 

[biglawnmower]

She's been registered and voting nearly 20 years. Her name was on the roll, she went in with ID and voted. That is her only crime in 20 years. She's a mother of four. "Piece of garbage criminal"?

her status of a mother has nothing to do with her crimes. judges dont give out punishments for felonies based on how many kids the criminal has.

what fantasy world are you livin in young man?

 

[SonOfDaedalus]

iLOL
1. You provided no correlation let alone causation that shows Republicans did any such thing.
2. The Sentencing Reform Act was Passed by a Democrat controlled house and a Republican controlled Senate. It was first introduced in the House by a Democrat.




No, it is thanks to people who commit crimes and actually deserve to be in prison.

So Republicans are not the law and order party, who have always been pushing for higher sentences?

The Sentencing Reform Act was passed under Ronald Reagan. That was back when Republicans and Democrats tried to work together.

Remember the Willy Horton ads? Are you saying its Democrats who have been campaigning on "law and order" all these years?

And the vast expansion of our prison complex is related to drug laws which were championed by Nixon and Reagan.

Do you deny that conservatives have always tried to paint liberals as "soft on crime"?

 

[ecofarm]

what fantasy world are you livin in young man?

I'm an ex paratrooper, world traveled, phd candidate. Lived in Europe and Africa.

The woman committed no crime for twenty years while raising four kids. That's a lot of honest work. She thought she could vote, or no one would notice. She wanted to participate, honor her duty as an American. But she wasn't a citizen, so now her kids are without her. That's injustice. That's not the person we're looking for.

 

[ttwtt78640]

I think it's practically demonization to ignore the specific felony. One cannot omit that and claim honesty. Her felony is registering and voting. She didn't put on a disguise or impersonate anyone. She registered, she went to the proper voting station, showed ID and voted. For 20 years she committed no other crime. A model citizen, were she one. Using "multiple felony" as a blanket description is unfair.

It's one crime. Pretending to have a voice.

She impersonated a US citizen thereby cancelling (or doubling) their legimate vote.

 

[Excon]

So Republicans are not the law and order party, who have always been pushing for higher sentences?

Stop with the silly nonsense. Their in-general attitude is irrelevant to what you provided.
Everyone is for law enforcement when it suits their agenda.

The Sentencing Reform Act was passed under Ronald Reagan. That was back when Republicans and Democrats tried to work together.

And again.
It was first introduced by a Democrat in the House. That makes it a Democratic bill. That alone makes your claim false. That they cooperated is irrelevant to it's origination.
Separately controlled branches of government came together to support such legislation also makes your assertion false.

Are you saying its Democrats who have been campaigning on "law and order" all these years?

You mean like calling for increased sentencing guidelines for crack witch was devastating their neighborhoods? Thus requiring an expansion of our prison complex? You mean like that, right?

Do you deny that conservatives have always tried to paint liberals as "soft on crime"?

Liberals are generally soft on crime.
Which of course is irrelevant to when they are not.

 

[Divine_Wind]

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-voter-fraud-prison_us_5c01a9afe4b0a173c02305c1

Rosa Maria Ortega’s case illustrates the enormous discretion that prosecutors have in how harshly they pursue voter fraud....

Interesting article and case:"Voter fraud is exceedingly rare in the United States, but Paxton has pursued it zealously in Texas, launching an entire unit within his office focused on the issue. In the same county where Ortega was prosecuted, an African-American woman was sentenced to five years in prison for illegally voting while she was still on supervised release for an unrelated felony conviction. Like Ortega, Crystal Mason said she didn’t know she was ineligible to vote. The prosecutions of two women of color drew accusations of racism when a white justice of the peace merely received probation after being convicted of turning in forged signatures on the petitions he needed to run for re-election this year."

 

[Excon]

The woman committed no crime for twenty years while raising four kids.

No crime? Wut?
She clearly was in violation of the law.

Ortega registered to vote in 2002 as a Republican and then cast ballots multiple times over more than a decade.​

That's a lot of honest work.

Irrelevant. Especially as compared to a citizen doing the same without having committed a crime.

 

[ecofarm]

She impersonated a US citizen thereby cancelling (or doubling) their legimate vote.

Twenty years of hard work raising four kids and not a brush with the law. They're gonna lose her, for 8 years, because she felt a duty to participate. She wasn't trying to fool anyone. She registered. They gave her the okay for years. Then they took her from her kids.

 

[biglawnmower]

I'm an ex paratrooper, world traveled, phd candidate. Lived in Europe and Africa.

The woman committed no crime for twenty years while raising four kids. That's a lot of honest work. She thought she could vote, or no one would notice. She wanted to participate, honor her duty as an American. But she wasn't a citizen, so now her kids are without her. That's injustice. That's not the person we're looking for.

so youre claiming she committed no felonies?

you should sue the institution that is issuing you a phd