Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said two Harris County men have been charged with illegally casting ballots while on felony parole. The Attorney General's Office said a citizen tip started the investigation. Investigators reviewed voter records and confirmed with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that several men were on parole when they voted. Two of those men have been charged.
Angel Evora and Darrick Haynie both live in Harris County, but their arrest warrants were issued in Montgomery County. Texas law allows certain election crimes to be prosecuted in the county where they occurred or in a neighboring county. Montgomery County District Attorney Michael Holley said the Attorney General's Office chose to file the charges in Montgomery County. The cases will be heard in a Montgomery County district court, and the Attorney General's Office will handle the prosecutions.
Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said that under Texas law, a former felon who is on probation or parole is not eligible to vote until that supervision ends. Jones said voting rights are automatically restored once parole ends, and that the restriction applies only while a person is actively on parole or probation.