Two Harris County men are facing charges after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says they illegally cast ballots while still on felony parole, and the arrests are raising questions about who is eligible to vote in Texas.
The Attorney General’s Office says a citizen tip sparked the investigation into claims that convicted felons voted in Harris County. Investigators reviewed voter records and confirmed with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that several men were on parole when they cast their ballots.
Two of those men have been charged. DPS records show Angel Evora’s parole is set to expire in 2028. Darrick Haynie’s parole is scheduled to end in February 2027, according to DPS records.
Both men 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 says the Attorney General’s Office chose to file the charges in Montgomery County. The cases will be heard in a Montgomery County district court, with prosecutions handled entirely by the Attorney General’s Office.
What the law says about voting rights and felony convictions
Rice University Political Science Professor Mark Jones says under Texas law, the rules are clear, but not always understood.
“It’s not common, but it isn’t unheard of. Texas is one of the many U.S. states where even when you’re on probation after you’ve been released from prison, until that probation is over, as a former felon, you are not eligible to vote. However, once your parole ends, then your voting rights are automatically restored,” Jones said.
Jones emphasized that the restriction only applies while a person is actively on parole or probation for a felony — not permanently.
“If you committed a felony and you’ve completed your parole successfully, then you are eligible to vote as long as you register to vote following the restoration of your voting rights,” Jones said.
Jones explained how the Attorney General’s Office likely identified the men.
“During the early voting period, every evening after early voting has concluded, a roster of the people who cast a ballot that day is uploaded and that’s accessible for anyone. I suspect the Texas Attorney General’s Office ran those names against lists of felons or former felons that they have and were able to match individuals,” Jones said.
The stakes for those who cast illegal ballots
Jones stressed that while most cases involve honest mistakes, the legal consequences are serious.
“This is one of those issues that at the margins results generally in a small number of people every year voting when they should not have voted. It usually is not enough people to sway an election. It is something, though, that people who are on parole need to be very watchful of because it is illegal and it can result in serious penalties, for instance, returning to jail,” Jones said.
In most cases, he says, the person who voted illegally did not realize they were ineligible.
“A majority of the cases where this occurs, it happens because the person does not realize that they are ineligible to vote. So from their perspective, they’re doing everything right — they’re engaged in their civic duty of casting a ballot. It’s just because they did not fully understand the restrictions on their suffrage rights,” Jones said.
The Attorney General’s Office says its investigation into other potential voting violations is ongoing.
Full Statement from Attorney General’s Office:
Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrests of convicted felons accused of illegally casting ballots in Texas elections. These arrests mark the latest action in the ongoing efforts of the Office of the Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit (“EIU”) to investigate election crimes.
On October 27, 2026, a concerned citizen reported that convicted felons who were incarcerated, on parole, or on probation had allegedly cast ballots in Harris County. The citizen provided open-source information to support the allegation. Members of the Office of the Attorney General’s EIU opened an investigation and began collecting evidence of potential violations of the Texas Election Code.
EIU analysts verified the identities of the individuals, reviewed their voter registration records, and examined whether they had cast ballots in the 2026 election. Investigators subsequently referred the identified individuals to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (“TDCJ”) for verification of their criminal justice status. So far, TDCJ has confirmed that multiple individuals were on parole when they cast their ballots, rendering them ineligible to vote under Texas law.
“Today, my office arrested convicted felons for voting illegally in Texas. My Election Integrity Unit is actively investigating additional reports of election crimes,” said Attorney General Paxton. “We will continue working to protect the lawful votes of Texans.”
On October 30, 2026, arrest warrants were issued in Montgomery County for individuals identified thus far in the investigation. Officers from the Office of the Attorney General subsequently arrested the individuals.
The Office of the Attorney General will continue to investigate additional allegations of illegal voting and remains committed to ensuring that Texas elections are free and fair.
