EDINBURG — The former mayor here took the stand again in his own defense Tuesday morning and told jurors he never coerced, forced or bribed anyone to change their residency so that they could vote for him in the 2017 mayoral election.
The testimony from Richard Molina comes on the sixth day of testimony in his trial on a charge of engaging in organized voter fraud and 11 counts of illegal voting.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and told jurors that if he had known changing people’s addresses to vote for him was illegal, he never would have done so.
Numerous witnesses have previously testified that Molina told them to change their addresses so that they could vote for him.
However, while on the stand, Molina said it was his understanding that people were allowed to choose their residency and that he was clear with people that they could only vote in one election, not from multiple addresses.
The former mayor also testified that the people he spoke with all had interests in Edinburg, whether they be family, business interests, were employed there or wanted to support him.
According to the former public official, he became aware of the practice when he looked into running for city council in 2013 and found out others had changed their address to vote in prior elections. He reiterated that when he helped people do it in 2017, he believed it was OK because other people had done it. He said it only became a problem once he was elected mayor.
Molina said he also based his belief on training he received from the county to be a deputy voter registrar and from information he researched on the Texas Secretary of State’s website.
Testimony is scheduled to resume at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
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