Moreau Cited for Second Election Violation
La Grange Police issued Fayette County Judge Candidate Craig Moreau a citation for another election violation last week.
La Grange Police Chief David Gilbreath said his department ticketed Moreau last Thursday for unlawful presence of a candidate at a polling place, a class C misdemeanor. Gilbreath said the election judges at two polling places in La Grange, City Hall and St. Paul Lutheran Church, filed criminal complaints regarding Moreau’s presence at the polling locations on the March 1 Primary Elections.
Chapter 61 of the Texas Election Code states “A candidate in the election commits an offense if the candidate is in a polling place (...) for a purpose other than: (1) voting; or (2) official business in the building in which the polling place is located.”
The law grants an exemption if the candidate “(1) is not within plain view or hearing of the persons in the voting area or the area in which voters are being accepted for voting; and (2) is not engaged in campaign activity.”
Moreau was ticketed for the same violation on March 9 for an incident that allegedly occured at the La Grange Church of Christ.
Moreau said he was at the polling locations on Election Day to check vote totals and does not believe he has broken the law.
“The law says that a candidate can cross the line for official business, and official business is not well defined,” Moreau said in an interview on Monday. “The generally accepted notion for official business is checking the amount of voters posted on the door. It says you can’t loiter or electioneer, tell others to vote for me. None of that happened. I checked the vote totals.”
Moreau said he has not yet decided whether he will fight the charges in court.
“Never in a million years, did I think I was doing anything wrong,” he said. “In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s taken valuable time away from me talking to voters and understanding what their needs are.”
Moreau faces Dan Mueller in the May 24 Republican Primary Runoff Election.