Monday, 16 February 2026

Reporter Nikki Maxwell Interviewed About Election Fraud In Gonzales Texas [mVtxVZc75g4]

A local reporter uncovers a systematic ballot harvesting operation in Gonzales, Texas, leading to grand jury indictments for a sitting councilman and a write-in candidate.

Gonzales fraud Nikki Maxwell Russell Grant Texas elections Voter harvesting Gonzales Canon Charles Roaches

By Mike Hanson Archives | 15m listen | 7 chapters

RSS Transcript

Reporter Nikki Maxwell Interviewed About Election Fraud In Gonzales Texas [mVtxVZc75g4] cover

About this episode

Reporter Nikki Maxwell of the Gonzales Canon exposes a coordinated election tampering scheme involving City Councilman Russell Grant and candidate Charles Roaches in Gonzales, Texas. Maxwell’s investigation into 100 mail-in ballot applications revealed that 83 able-bodied voters were falsely registered as disabled without their consent. This systematic falsification triggered automatic ballot deliveries, allowing local officials to exploit vulnerable residents through illegal door-to-door solicitation and ballot harvesting tactics.

District Attorney investigators moved forward with indictments against Grant and Roaches last month after the pair failed to adhere to initial probation terms. Public information requests and phone book records allowed Maxwell to uncover how Grant campaigned for Roaches’ write-in bid while simultaneously running unopposed for his own District 2 seat. The City of Gonzales currently operates under an interim manager following the February firing of its previous administrator and a high turnover rate of three City Secretaries in three years. Witnesses reported seeing the indicted officials pressuring residents to sign ballots, a direct violation of Texas election law that prompted the formation of the Gonzales Canon as an independent investigative outlet.

Nikki Maxwell details the emotional toll on residents who felt betrayed by a Baptist preacher and a trusted councilman involved in the fraud. The reporter describes the necessity of launching a new publication after her previous employer suppressed the investigation into local government cover-ups. This report highlights the rare impact of old-fashioned investigative journalism in a small-town political landscape marked by decades of administrative instability.

CHAPTER 01 / 7 Discussion

Nikki News Reporter Investigates Gonzales Texas Voter Fraud

Nikki, a reporter for the Gonzales Canon, describes an investigation into election tampering involving City Councilman Russell Grant. The scheme involved marking approximately 100 mail-in ballot applications as "disabled" without the voters' knowledge to trigger automatic ballot delivery. Out of 100 applications reviewed, 83 voters were found to be able-bodied individuals who were unaware of their fraudulent status.

nikki· gonzales canon· jeff davis· voter fraud· mail-in ballots· disability fraud

00:00 Okay, Nikki's her name? Yes. Oh she is a reporter with the Gonzales Canon? Yes. Okay. Hello was this Nikki? It is hi how are you? Hi ma'am I'm Jeff Davis this is the long-running Jeff Davis show based out of Austin Texas and Mike Hanson has been informing us about really what I consider to be quite a bit of shenanigans going on with the uh uh uh Gonzales City leadership And we took a look at your article here. Could you elaborate a little bit about what's going on with this one city council member and about this voter fraud?

00:43 Yes, I'd be happy to. Basically what happened was approximately two years ago we had a city councilman Mr. Russell Grant who was assisting a candidate for City Council for different seats uh... and going to order your and that you have been on top of it um... they've got a lot can't bring election that contact and putting up information on mail-in ballot application what they were doing at one

01:20 on telling people that when they went to their home, telling them to just sign the form that it was a new form of early voting and that they would fill out the rest of the information for them. Well what the people didn't realize is that Mr. Graham and Mr. Rosas and I believe other people were involved were marking them as disabled in order to get a ballot mailed to their house. But when, in fact, when we went back and looked over the approximately 100 mail-in ballot applications for that election 83 of them that were marked disabled or not disabled. Wow!

02:05 They were actually, you know just hard working folks. Didn't have any physical problems to prevent them from going to the polls themselves In many cases when I called them to talk about it they did not even know that they were marked disabled Being a newspaper reporter, would you go to far to say now that at least the elections in Gonzales Texas are dishonest? I believe that the election process itself is flawed throughout our country. I think what's happened in Gonzales is basically a symptom of a national illness

02:52 and it really needs to be looked at seriously, whether it's a little town in Texas to a capital city. It has got to get some attention because for every case such as this that is exposed just imagine how many aren't? Just imagine how many cases or situations where election tampering is happening every year And nothing is being done about it. That's what I think this is really symbolic of, that if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. I agree with you. Go ahead Gary. I was going to ask you a couple questions Nikki First of all how did you find out these people who were listed as disabled were not disabled?

CHAPTER 02 / 7 Discussion

Public Information Requests Reveal Betrayal of Local Voters

A reporter used public information requests and phone book records to contact voters listed as disabled on ballot applications. Many residents expressed feelings of betrayal upon learning that local leaders, including a Baptist preacher and a councilman they trusted, had falsified their medical status. The investigation revealed that many victims did not realize any laws had been broken until the reporter contacted them directly.

public information request· phone book· voter betrayal· baptist preacher· community trust

03:38 Well, what I did was a public information request for all the mail-in ballot applications through the city. And I went through the phone book and basically let my fingers do the walking. I didn't know any of these people. I called them. I told them who I was and why I was calling and I simply asked them And none of them really, you know denied anything. None of them were afraid to talk to me because they didn't realize that anything had been done wrong and many of them when they found out what happened and realized it, they felt very betrayed. They were very upset

04:21 This is a councilman and a local Baptist preacher that was the candidate, people they've grown up with in many cases. People they trusted and knew were part of their community and they were very upset So I'll just say it's something that definitely shook this whole community apart. Now Nikki, I want to ask you the...I'm trying to understand how this benefited the candidate so somebody gets a ballot from the door-to-door person and they does the door-to-door person get

CHAPTER 03 / 7 Discussion

Illegal Campaign Tactics and Voter Harassment in Gonzales

Candidates in Gonzales allegedly engaged in illegal door-to-door tactics by instructing voters to call them when mail-in ballots arrived. Reporter Nikki details how candidate Charles Roaches and Councilman Russell Grant pressured residents to sign ballots and offered to transport them, which is a violation of Texas election law. Some voters reported feeling harassed by the gentlemen returning multiple times in a single week to check on the status of their ballots.

charles roaches· write-in candidate· illegal ballot transport· voter harassment· election law

05:05 cast their vote for them or how does that work? I don't understand, how it benefits a particular candidate. Well that's a really good question as far as how does it benefit the candidate on...I guess the simplest answer to that there are many different answers but I guess the first answer is it puts the ballot in the hand of someone who may not necessarily go to the polls and vote which was probably their primary motivation Secondly, when they were going door to door to these people they told several of them to call them when the ballots came in and that they would come back to their house and help them vote. Now I don't know about you but that is a problem not only is that big red flag but it's illegal! A candidate cannot come and stand in your living room and tell you how to vote

06:00 It's completely inappropriate and it's illegal. The candidate in question, Mr Charles Roaches you know both of the men are very nice but it doesn't matter In this situation illegal is illegal And I had people telling me that they were told how to vote How to sign his name on there because he was a writing candidate His name was not printed on the ballot But in many cases, people told me they felt harassed. But these two gentlemen kept coming back to them multiple times in one week asking them did you get your ballot yet? Where is it let me see it I'll don't worry about it and I'll turn it in for you there are some situations where

06:45 uh... some of the people that filled out a pretty good claiming that he's got a man who left their home with their ballot now that is illegal also uh... candidate or and no one other than a relative of the person voting it's authorized to transport your ballot If you're mailing it back, that's one thing. But if you're giving it to someone in their hand and they are not a relative especially for a candidate that is illegal. Nikki I want to ask another question You are in Gonzales, your familiar with the city council there and the candidates and so forth We don't know anything about the election there So can you tell us what election were we talking about

CHAPTER 04 / 7 Discussion

District Attorney Indicts Grant and Roaches After Failed Probation

The District Attorney moved forward with a 2009 election investigation after a previous 2008 probe into the mayor and another councilman stalled due to manpower limitations. Although Russell Grant and Charles Roaches initially reached a plea deal involving Grant's resignation and probation, the District Attorney took the case to a grand jury last month. Both men were indicted after failing to follow the terms of their probation process.

district attorney· grand jury· indictment· plea deal· 2008 election· 2009 election

07:29 uh... with their two candidates in running for separate seats or who was running and well what was a writing candidate something you kind of tell us what election we talk about it has set the stage for us i'd be a black cannot work at that thing in this case if the people have been nine minutes apart action happening in uh... early betting within eight o'clock at night people are great weapon may on there aren't done some discussion and some allegations about the election fraud that people believe occurred in 2008. In the year prior, that involved the mayor of Gonzales and another councilman for a different district

08:13 Although there were some affidavits and a petition of more than 300 citizens asking the district attorney to investigate that, but since that was before our current district attorney gained her seat She did look into it a little bit, but she said due to manpower limitations and the fact that it was before her watch. And that although she wrote this in a letter, she said although she believed election misconduct occurred in 2008 also, she said that she couldn't investigate or prosecute

08:56 But she did move forward with the 2009 investigation. An interesting point on this is that a little more than a year ago now, when that investigation was completed for the 09 election The district attorney announced that a plea deal had been reached with Mr. Roaches and Mr. Grant, and Mr. Grant the councilman at that time stepped down and resigned his seat on the council and agreed to cooperate with the district attorney's office in exchange for probation

CHAPTER 05 / 7 Discussion

Russell Grant Unopposed Candidacy and Write-in Support

In the May 2009 election, Councilman Russell Grant ran unopposed for his District 2 seat while simultaneously assisting Charles Roaches' write-in campaign for District 1. Despite Grant's claims that he never campaigned for Roaches, witnesses reported seeing the two men traveling together door-to-door to solicit votes. The investigation suggests Grant committed voter fraud specifically to benefit Roaches, who had missed the filing deadline to appear on the printed ballot.

russell grant· charles roaches· district 1· district 2· write-in candidate· unopposed

09:36 The situation as it developed in the last month or so is that the District Attorney's Office learned that, that probation process was not followed through by Mr. Roaches and Mr. Grant therefore she took the case to a grand jury where they were indicted last month All right, we are looking at the resignation letter on the screen of Russell Grant. But I'm still trying to understand something Nikki in May 2009 first of all how big is the Gonzales City Council? How many members does it have? With our population? No how many members did the Gonzales City Council have? Oh there's four council...four city councilmen and one mayor so five council members total And who was up..how many were up for election in may 2009

10:27 I beg your pardon, could you repeat the question? There's two up each year. It alternates. It's a two-year term so in 2009 it was District 1 and District 2. Russell Grant was District 1, oh excuse me. Russell Grant was District 2 he was running unopposed. He was running unopposed? Okay. He was running unopposed. District one with the seat that for the other seat in the election and that's the state that Reverend Roaches was running for And he was running as a write-in candidate Yes sir! He missed the deadline to be on the ballot so he was a write in candidate

11:10 So, Russell Grant is running unopposed. Why would he commit vote fraud? I believe he was helping a member of his community and... He was committing the vote fraud to help Rochest. ...was a pastor and he was eating out of a tree. You know, and actually it's an interesting question because when I interviewed him shortly after we busted this case open in 2009 he told me he denied ever going door to door with Mr. Roaches He denied me ever helping him campaign, ever soliciting votes for him when in fact I spoke to more than 50 people who told me the same scenario that they were driving around in the same vehicle going up one block and down another. So the contradictions were very obvious

CHAPTER 06 / 7 Discussion

Gonzales City Leadership Turnover and Interim Management

The City of Gonzales has experienced significant leadership turnover, including the firing of the City Manager in February and the employment of three different City Secretaries within three years. An interim city manager, formerly of Victoria, Texas, has been appointed to stabilize the administration. Reporter Nikki suggests that while the government is not in "shambles," it requires transparency and the replacement of specific officials to move past decades of cover-ups.

city manager· city secretary· victoria texas· interim manager· local government

12:02 Nikki, I wanted to ask you something else. I'm wondering if you have any information on this? The Gonzales canon has been covering a lot of different things going on there and one of them the city secretary is resigned right Yes, we have. Well we've had two city secretaries were on our third one in just as many years yes And didn't the City Manager... it seems like the City of Gonzales leadership is really in a shambles right now would you agree with that? I wouldn't use the word shambles because I think there are

12:43 I think there are a couple of people that the city could actually improve on its government by replacing. I think we're moving forward in the right direction now, but you know the whole healing process It has to start with the truth. And if people continue to cover things up in the manner that I believe they have for decades now, then it's going to revert back and I'd rather see it move forward. I think we're making progress. The city manager was actually fired here early last month, the first week of February

13:26 And right now we have an interim city manager, a wonderful man. Very competent very experienced he's actually the former city manager of Victoria who recently just retired from there He has been gracious enough to step in he is a Guinsolves native And so I think he is helping to lead the council and the city administration in the right direction. And, I think it's just going to take a lot of good hard questions... A lot of still looking in the dark corners, so-to speak, and keeping some people on their toes! Hopefully we won't let history repeat itself

CHAPTER 07 / 7 Discussion

Gonzales Canon Newspaper Born From Investigative Journalism

The Gonzales Canon newspaper was established approximately 18 months ago following the reporter's termination from another local publication due to her voter fraud investigation. The hosts praise this "old-fashioned" investigative journalism as a rare alternative to mainstream media that typically relies on press releases. The segment concludes with a call for listeners to visit the newspaper's website to review the full findings of the election tampering case.

gonzales canon· journalism· investigative reporting· whistleblower· newspaper launch

14:12 Nikki, we've got to run but I want to thank you so much for calling in and outstanding reporting. Yeah, I want to say that this is really the kind of old-fashioned news journalism that we don't see from the mainstream media anymore they just regurgitate press releases and so forth You actually did some investigation there Nikki And that's really what the reporting should be all about We really do congratulate you on your hard work and your accomplishments Thank you very much. That's something that we're very proud of and my newspaper, the Genghals Canon actually was created...we've only been publishing for a year and half and our paper was created out of the ashes of this investigation when I worked at another newspaper here in town

15:00 and was actually fired from that paper because of this investigation. But it's just good to show you that tenacity and stubbornness can go a long way. Thank you very much, Nikki! I really appreciate your calling in Yes sir thank you and i encourage everyone who wants to learn more about it to go to our website uh denveldcanon.com And we welcome your comments Thank you very much! Thank You have a good night!