DALLAS -- Allegations of voter fraud are being amplified, this time by protesters in Dallas.
While some cite abuse of the mail-in balloting system, others says it's more a case of one or two sore losers.
A handful of protesters picketed outside County Commissioners Court Tuesday, hoping to bring attention to what they say was the illegal harvesting of mail-in votes resulting in the defeat of Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5, Place 1, Luis Sepulveda.
Rachel Alonzo, who lives in Sepulveda's precinct, said she believes someone stole her mail-in ballot before she could fill it out.
"I signed my name," Alonzo said. "I never got it back."
Sepulveda said he is the victim of a scheme to steal the election by manipulation of mail-in ballots. "That's not called election," he said. "That's called a dictatorship."
Sepulveda has filed a complaint with Dallas County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet, who on Tuesday informed Dallas County Commissioners of his subsequent actions.
"We've submitted those complaints to the Secretary of State's office," Sherbet said. "They can review those if they want to refer them to the Attorney General's office for investigation."
But not every Commissioner is so sure the would-be scandal is real.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said he has heard the same complaints before. Price calls them vague allegations of voter fraud with little hard evidence.
"If Bruce Sherbet says he's got six or seven complaints out of seven thousand?" asked Price. "I mean, don't try to taint the system as if there's something amiss out there."
As for Sepulveda, he doesn't expect any sympathy from Price -- just a little sympathy for the voters who say they've been wronged.
E-mail bshipp@wfaa.com
