Surveillance video from a polling place in Peñitas that surfaced on Facebook on Monday has sparked a heated debate in western Hidalgo County.

Surveillance video from a polling place in Peñitas that surfaced on Facebook on Monday has sparked a heated debate in western Hidalgo County.

La Joya school board Trustee Frances Salinas posted the video on Facebook Monday night. The video shows Palmview City Councilwoman Linda Sarabia helping two women vote at the Peñitas library.

Salinas says the video shows wrongdoing and that Sarabia shouldn’t be assisting voters. Sarabia, though, says she didn’t do anything wrong and that Salinas is attempting to intimidate voters by releasing video that never should have been recorded in the first place.

Caught in the middle is Peñitas City Manager Omar Romero, who says the city had to release the security camera video under the Texas Public Information Act.

“The city, to be honest, isn’t involved. The only reason why we’re involved is because a public information request was filed and we have to comply,” Romero said.

The video shows people voting, but doesn’t show how they actually voted. Screens block the camera from seeing the ballot.

Normally, state law prohibits video recording within 100 feet of a polling place and the Texas Secretary of State’s Office recommends covering surveillance cameras or pointing them away from voters.

But in Peñitas, nobody realized the problem until the city received a public information request. The city checked with the state and confirmed the video is a public record that must be released.

Afterward, though, the camera was covered up.

Sarabia says she didn’t do anything wrong and was just assisting elderly voters who needed help.

“I was disgusted. I was disgusted that political opponents would go to that extreme of obtaining surveillance video to further their campaign– not thinking of these elderly women that were being exposed and are imposing on their rights,” Sarabia said.

Salinas says while she understands the concern about privacy, the content of the video is what’s important.

“To me it was just very, very important that people see what was in these videos,” Salinas said.

Both sides say they’re filing complaints about what happened. Meanwhile, the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office went to Peñitas this week to gather information about the incident.

The Hidalgo County Elections Department is also taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Administrator Yvonne Ramon says the Elections Department will send out letters reminding polling places to cover any surveillance cameras.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the Hidalgo County Elections Department administrator. She is Yvonne Ramon, not Yvonne Ramos.