GREGG COUNTY, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday announced the arrests of Gregg County Commissioner Shannon Brown, Marlena Jackson, Charlie Burns, and DeWayne Ward on charges in connection with an alleged organized vote harvesting scheme during the 2018 Democratic primary election.

The group is accused of targeting voters to cast mail-in ballots by fraudulently claiming the voters were disabled, in most cases without the voters’ knowledge or consent. The group was trying to increase the pool of ballots needed to swing the race in Brown’s favor.

“In total, the state filed 134 felony charges against the four defendants, including engaging in organized election fraud, illegal voting, fraudulent use of an application for a mail-in ballot, unlawful possession of a mail-in ballot, tampering with a governmental record, and election fraud. Penalties for these offenses range from six months in state jail to 99 years in prison,” Paxton said in a press release.

Paxton has pushed back against efforts to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic. “Mail ballots are vulnerable to diversion, coercion, and influence by organized vote harvesting schemes,” he said.

But according to The Texas Tribune, fraud in absentee voting, as with voting fraud in general, is rare.