Grant voter fraud trial postponed until Aug. 25

The voting fraud trial for former Gonzales city councilman Russell Grant has been rescheduled once again, this time for Aug. 25 at the Gonzales County Courthouse.

It is the fourth trial date for Grant. The original trial date was April 21, which was postponed to May 26, reset for July 20 and then rescheduled for Aug. 25.

Grant is under indictment on 10 charges of providing false information on an application for early voting related to the 2009 election.

He was scheduled to appear for trial in a non-jury setting on July 20, but was reset for Aug. 25.

On Feb. 25, Grant and council candidate Rev. Charles Roaches were both indicted on charges that stemmed from voter fraud in a 2009 election. The 25th Judicial District Court served the indictment on 14 counts of providing false information on an application for early voting.

The investigation stemmed from allegations by citizens of District 1 that both Grant and Roaches gave misleading information regarding mail-in ballots provided for citizens. Mail-in ballots are for those who are 65 years or older, disabled, out of the county on election day or confined to jail but otherwise eligible to vote.

Grant was indicted on 10 counts and Roaches was handed four counts.

Roaches was handed a pretrial diversion and was under supervision along with services being administered under probation. Participants who successfully complete the program will not be charged or, if charged, will have the charges against them dismissed; unsuccessful participants are returned for prosecution.

Grant held the District 2 seat on the Gonzales City Council and resigned his position in February 2010. Then he admitted to “voter misconduct” and agreed to abstain from public office as well as cooperate with authorities in the investigation. He won the seat in 2008 and was ultimately replaced by current councilman Tommy Schurig, who finished second in voting during that election.

Current councilman Gary Schroeder and Roaches were vying for the District 1 seat with Roaches as a write-in candidate for the May 2009 election. Schroeder won the election and was sworn in office in June 2009 along with Grant.

According to published reports in 2009, both candidates submitted 102 total mail-in ballots, 100 of those being from Roaches. 83% of Roaches ballots were marked as coming from disabled persons.

The District Attorney did not look into the election of 2008 for any wrong doings and DA Heather Miller (then Hollub) sent a letter to area residents stating her office would not pursue investigating that said election.