Early Voting Begins This Week
Tue, 2016-04-26 21:35
News Staff
Politiqueras, start your engines
By G. Romero Wendorf
It’s that time of year again – Hidalgo County election season – when the campaign trail gets clogged with the politiquera chain gang, mainly comprised of tough female Caddy owners who haven’t filed full tax disclosures in years, but who do get paid good money by most, but not all, politicians to get out the vote. Often by hook or by crook.
But beware, the feds are watching, as recent convictions of several politiqueras and campaign managers in federal court have proven. To stay above the law, and out of the fed pen, politiqueras cannot give a voter anything, except for transportation to the polls, in exchange for their vote.
If you’re a politiquera (female) or politiquero (male), it’s still okay to get paid to drive people to the polling places, go inside the booth with them to make sure they choose “the right name (i.e. the politician paying you), as long as the voter you’re with tells the poll watcher that they need help in the booth.