November 6th 2024.
A mail carrier from Mesa County and her friend were recently taken into custody on charges of identity theft and forgery. The 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office made the announcement on Wednesday, revealing that the two women had allegedly stolen at least 16 ballots and filled them out in order to "test" the voting signature system.
According to the arrest affidavit, 64-year-old Vicki Lyn Stuart was arrested on 16 counts of identity theft and forgery, as well as two counts of attempting to influence a public servant. Her friend, 56-year-old Sally Jane Maxedon, was also arrested on six counts of identity theft and forgery, and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant.
The investigation began on October 21st when several residents of Mesa County contacted the elections staff about their ballots being rejected due to signature discrepancies. These residents claimed that they had never voted and were confused as to why their ballots were being rejected. This sparked the attention of the district attorney's office, who launched an investigation into the matter.
After looking into the issue, investigators found that all of the stolen ballots had been taken from mailboxes along the same postal service route. It was also discovered that Stuart had been working as a substitute carrier for that route on October 12th, the day the ballots were delivered. Initially, Stuart denied any involvement and claimed that she had returned the ballots to a bin for rejected or "return to sender" mail at the USPS annex.
However, inconsistencies in her story and conflicting information from post office staff led investigators to believe that Stuart was not being truthful. Eventually, they found a fingerprint on one of the forged ballots that matched Maxedon, who did not work for USPS. Maxedon initially denied any involvement, but later confessed that Stuart had given her the ballots as part of a plan to "test" the signature verification system.
The affidavit states that the purpose of this scheme was to see if the signature verification process would catch the forged signatures and determine if they were not from the known voter signatures on file with Elections. When contacted by investigators, Stuart asked if she was going to be put in prison for mishandling some mail.
The DA's office believes that there may be more than 20 people whose ballots were stolen, but they have only been able to confirm 16 thefts as of Tuesday. A spokesperson for the USPS Denver office confirmed that Stuart is an employee, but she has been placed on "emergency non-duty status" and is not currently carrying mail.
This incident was first announced by Secretary of State Jena Griswold on October 24th. She stated that three of the stolen ballots had been successfully cast after clearing the signature review process. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Colorado Secretary of State's Office have not yet responded to requests for comment.
In the meantime, the two women are facing serious charges and the investigation is ongoing. If you have any information about this case, please contact the authorities. And don't forget to sign up for our daily crime news updates to stay informed about important cases like this.
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