What we know about Mesa County’s voter fraud scheme

Updated October 24, 2024 at 4:43 p.m

About a dozen ballots in Mesa County were stolen from registered voters in the mail and submitted fraudulently.

State officials said Thursday they discovered the thefts this week through the signature verification process in Grand Junction, triggering an investigation by state and local officials.

Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein launched a criminal investigation into the stolen ballots. The news comes nearly a month after former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in the county’s voting equipment breach.

The secretary of state’s office said the ballots were intercepted before they reached the voters they were intended for and were later cast fraudulently. They were returned to the clerk’s office and not placed in a mailbox that is under video surveillance.

According to the Secretary of State, three ballots went through the system and were counted as legitimate votes, but the others were stopped. The three victims of the ballot theft will have another opportunity to cast their vote.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold said the fraud came to light through the state’s signature validation process. People also contacted the clerk’s office and said they received notifications that their ballots were being processed, even though they never received them.

“Every voter affected by the scheme we uncovered will have the opportunity to cast their ballot in the 2024 general election, and affected voters will receive a new ballot,” she said. “Voter fraud, voter intimidation and voter harassment are illegal in the state of Colorado.”

Signature verification is one layer in the check-and-balance process of mail-in ballots in Colorado. This includes both automatic verification of signatures and the work of human judges to ensure that the signature on each ballot envelope matches the signature of the respective voter.

After the three ballots were finally accepted and counted, they were first flagged by the automatic signature verification program. However, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, the same election judge reviewed and approved the election in each case. This person has since been reassigned.

Mesa County examined all other ballots rejected so far this election due to an inconsistent signature and found that it appeared that at least some of them were signed by the same person.

“The system worked,” Griswold said. “We don’t know the person’s motive, but this is incredibly dangerous to the electoral process. It is unfortunate that three ballots got through, but overall this has been addressed by the Mesa County Clerk and a criminal investigation is ongoing.”

In a statement, Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross said her office was investigating the claim but suggested the secretary of state’s office may have made a mistake in releasing information.

“While we understand the Secretary of State’s desire to make public statements, this is our community and our investigation,” Gross said. “It is vital that we follow the correct 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 way that protects the integrity of the investigation.”

Gross added that more details would be released when it makes sense.

Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said in his more than 20 years running elections, he has never seen anything like this before.

Griswold said the state was notified of the fraud on Tuesday and the Mesa County elections office is now subjecting every ballot it receives to additional scrutiny.

“The investigation into this situation is ongoing,” Griswold said. “We also know that Colorado’s elections are safe and secure, and this fraud attempt was quickly discovered and investigated thanks to the groundbreaking tools we have here.”

This is a developing story and will be updated