Election officials and West Dallas residents say someone may have fraudulently mailed ballots for dozens of elderly -- and possibly deceased -- voters.

Celina Barajas, an election clerk at the Eladio R. Martinez Learning Center polling place at 4500 Bernal Drive, said at least 15 elderly voters showed up Tuesday morning to votebut were told they couldn't because they had submitted mail-in ballots.

Celina Barajas, a member of the Dallas Parks and Recreation Board, said someone mailed in a fraudulent ballot for her 96-year-old grandfather, Henry. (Haynsworth Photography)

Barajas' 96-year-old grandfather had a similar experience Nov. 2, when he tried to vote early. She went with him to cast his ballot, but officials said he already had voted.

She said a man rang her father's doorbell Sept. 28, told him to sign a paper and left. She thinks what he unknowingly signed was his ballot, which the man subsequently mailed.

Barajas, who is a member of Dallas' Parks and Recreation Board, had to take her grandfather to the Dallas County Elections Department office on North Stemmons Freeway to revoke the fraudulent ballot that was mailed so he could cast a provisional ballot, which elections officials must review and approve.

"I've never seen such a thing," Barajas said. "They're vulnerable, and to be targeting them is wrong."

U.S. Justice Department officials were called to the polling place Tuesday morning but declined to comment. Deputies from the Dallas County Sheriff's office and a representative from the Dallas County Elections department were also present and declined to comment.

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Alice Garcia, a 65-year-old woman who has lived in West Dallas since 1974, said she was told she needed to revoke a mail-in ballot, which she had never requested, at the Dallas County elections office. She did so and cast her provisional ballot Tuesday afternoon.

"I was upset, very, very upset," Garcia said. "I pay my dues as an employee and resident, and now they tell me I can't vote."

Garcia's daughter, Maria Herrera, lives with her in the 3600 block of Ingersoll Street. She said in late September that she saw two men going through her deceased neighbor's mailbox. He was holding a clipboard full of forms.

Her neighbors confronted the men and asked them why they were going through a dead woman's mailbox. They got into an argument and then one of the men ripped up some of the forms and threw them on the ground.

Herrera called the police and collected the paper fragments.

"I started putting some of the pieces together and could tell it had something to do with a voting form," Herrera said. "It had my [deceased] neighbor's name and fake signatures. One for her and one for a witness. It was an absentee ballot."

She filed a report with police when they arrived but never heard back from anyone.

When Herrera and Garcia arrived at the polling location Tuesday morning and were told Garcia already had mailed a ballot, they decided the men must have fraudulently voted in her name as well.

The election judge for the polling location said Tuesday that more than 20 elderly voters had similar experiences.

Some of those people left without voting, but others took the time to revoke their ballots at the election office and return to the polling place to submit provisional ballots.

One such person was Natalie Tijerina, an 80-year-old West Dallas resident. Her daughter, Starlet Ramirez, said her mother was initially denied a vote because she was given a mail-in ballot.

Natalie Tijerina (left) and her granddaughter, Starlet Rodriguez, photographed outside a polling location at Eladio Martinez Learning Center Tuesday, November 8, 2016 in west Dallas. Tijerina, 81, is one of a handful of voters alleging a man signed them up for early voting against their will. When they attempted to vote at their precinct on Tuesday, they were initially denied and told they had mailed in an early voting ballot. (G.J. McCarthy / Staff Photographer)

Tijerina and Ramirez were told they needed to show the mail-in ballot to the election officials at the polling place to vote. Tijerina had thrown the mail-in ballot away, so they had to go to the Dallas elections office to revoke it.

She said she wasn't the only one the elections officials turned away, saying there was a "stack" of voters with the same story.

Ramirez said sometime about Sept. 27 a man knocked on the door of her mother's house and tried to persuade her to sign up to vote by mail. Ramirez told him they were going to vote in person and didn't want to vote by mail.

The man left but returned when Ramirez wasn't there and got Tijerina to sign something.

"He was very persistent about how the weather might be bad, she might be sick. A number of reasons why she should sign," Ramirez said. "I think he was just preying on the elderly."

She said she was frustrated with how election officials handled the situation and because she had to travel several place to be able to cast a provisional ballot.

"This might be my grandma's last election to vote in," Ramirez said. "It's her right. Why tell her she can't vote in the election. It's her right. Let her exercise her right. Don't make everyone jump through hoops to try and get their vote in."