Yuliana Quiroz 
EDINBURG – UTRGV students in Edinburg are disappointed after hearing Mayor Richard Molina was charged with voter fraud.
“It was kinda discouraging especially here in the Rio Grande Valley, there’s already not a lot of voter turnout,” said UTRGV student Angela Gonzalez.
Angela Gonzalez says that this voter fraud charge affects the culture of voting.
“I think hearing stories like that discourages the public to go out and vote.”
Dr. Robert Velez, a lecturer from the UTRGV Political Science Department tells us he’s lived in several parts of the United States and even though he’s only lived in the Valley for less than a year he admits one thing.
“Voter fraud is a… its a cottage industry down here. Not to make light of it because it is serious we do want to maintain the integrity of our elections of course,” said Velez.
We spoke to him about the several types of fraud in elections and he tells us it all depends on context and what he calls “nefarious intent.”
“So they knew that they shouldn’t have voted in that particular election and whether it was a geographical area or they knew they voted in a previous precinct, that possible too. Multiple voting, ballot stuffing although its not as common especially with all the technology that they have in order to make sure that people are in the correct polling place,” he continued.
Yvonne Ramon from the Hidalgo County Elections Department tells us how this sort of technology is utilized.
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