At least 12 Colorado voters in Mesa County had their mail-in ballots stolen, signed and cast at a postal box for the Nov. 5 election before the scheme was quickly discovered through the state's voter signature verification process, the Colorado secretary of state announced Thursday.
During an afternoon news conference, Secretary of State Jena Griswold said that of the fraudulent ballots discovered during Mesa County’s signature verification process, at least three were counted as votes with a fourth ballot almost getting verified by the county’s election division before a voter reached out after being notified their ballot was cast without their knowledge.
“The ballots were filled out, the return envelopes were signed and they were then returned to a USPS blue box, so that’s a postal box — not a ballot drop box,” said Griswold.
She said her office was alerted to the “developing situation” on Wednesday, adding a criminal investigation in Mesa County is now underway.
When asked if there was a way to pull the three ballots that were counted from the tally or reverse those votes, Griswold responded Colorado's confidential ballot-casting process prevents election officials from doing so.
“There is a right under the state constitution to have a confidential ballot. Once signatures are checked, the ballot is pulled independently from the envelope and it's put into the (counting) process,” said Griswold.
In other words, once the ballot has been pulled out from its envelope and counted, it cannot be traced back to the envelope in which it was sent.
The three voters whose ballots were fraudulently cast will receive new ballots, she said.
“The issue was discovered during the signature verification process. At least three of the voters had already received communications from the Mesa County Clerk. Mesa County Clerk mailed two of the voters affected to ask them to cure their ballots, which means fix signatures – because the signatures were rejected during the verification process,” Griswold added.
She said those voters told Mesa County they had neither received nor voted with those ballots. The other voters whose ballots were cast without their knowledge would have also been alerted by Mesa County officials to cure their ballots, but those ballots “were intercepted in time,” she said.
“We have at least 12 ballots that are suspected. The county clerk discovered the issue relatively quickly and put processes in place to stop any further detriment,” said Griswold. “In terms of the signature process, signatures on the back of ballots are verified by an election judge and if there are any questions as to the signature, there’s a secondary review by bipartisan election judges.”
Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross said in a statement Thursday that her office was “committed to transparency” as the investigation unfolds.
“I am fully committed to ensuring the integrity and security of our elections. We are currently investigating attempted election fraud. Our priority is to handle this investigation with the utmost care and diligence, and I believe that prematurely releasing details could compromise our ability to hold those responsible accountable,” said Gross.
She continued, “While we understand the Secretary of State’s desire to make public statements, this is our community and our investigation. It is critical that we follow proper procedures to ensure a thorough and effective investigation without tipping off those involved. The people of Mesa County deserve transparency and accountability, but it must be done in a manner that protects the integrity of the investigation.”
One voter notified Mesa County of the potential fraud after receiving a BallotTrax notification that their ballot was received by the county clerk, but they had not yet voted.
Griswold said Mesa County election officials were doubling their efforts and going through each envelope already processed to “double-check everything.”
Citing the ongoing criminal investigation, Griswold was unable to comment on how or who might have been behind the fraudulent ballots.
“Everybody affected will be offered a new ballot. The Mesa County Clerk will be reaching out to all affected voters,” said Griswold, who urged voters check the status of their ballots on the state’s website: govotecolorado.gov.
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Asked if there were potentially more fraudulent ballots submitted, Griswold said, “I can’t comment to that right now. What I can say is that the Mesa County clerk is going through every signature that so far has been processed. This is an evolving situation, and we'll share as much as we know with the Mesa County Clerk's investigation.”
Griswold said her office was not aware of any other suspected fraud in Colorado but “we're investigating one other situation in the state that we don't have enough facts at this point to share. As soon as we have enough information, we'll be sure to share that with everybody.”
Again citing the criminal investigation, she said she couldn’t comment as to whether the fraudulent votes in Mesa County were part of a bigger scheme.
While stressing to Colorado voters that the state’s elections “are safe and secure”, she urged voters to check the status of their ballots on the state’s website: govotecolorado.gov.
Confirmed voter fraud is rare in Colorado’s nearly all-mail voting system, which has multiple safeguards and checks to detect improper voting. While cases have been prosecuted over the years — including attempts by people to vote using their former or recently deceased spouses’ ballots — the scheme alleged in Mesa County, Griswold indicated, was unprecedented, our partners at The Denver Post reported Thursday.
This story was originally published by Jeff Anastasio and Óscar Contreras at Scripps News Denver.
