2 arrested in connection with stolen Colorado ballots in Mesa County

Two people have been arrested in connection with stolen Colorado ballots in Mesa County. The 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office investigators arrested Vicki Lyn Stuart and Sally Jane Maxedon (aka Smith) on Wednesday. 

They are facing several charges including identity theft, attempt to influence a public servant, and forgery. 

Their arrests are in connection with at least a dozen mailed ballots that were intercepted and cast on the Western Slope before voters received them last month. According to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office, three of those ballots were cast and counted in Mesa County before the county clerk was able to pull them from the final tally.  

Colorado's Department of State learned about the intercepted ballots on Oct. 21. Election staff said that residents who had never submitted a ballot, or even received their ballots in the mail, had reported that they were contacted by the elections office to advise their ballots were not being counted due to signature discrepancies.  

According to court documents, Stuart worked for the US Postal Service at the time of the ballot thefts. In the arrest affidavit, investigators said that all three ballot mailing locations for the four forged mail ballots were on the same mail delivery route as the USPS mail carrier route for that area. 

Sally told investigators, as detailed in the arrest affidavit, that she admitted to falsely completing voting ballots that did not belong to her. She initially told investigators that she was given the ballots by a male who worked at CBI to help test the voting system. During the investigation, according to the arrest affidavit, Sally then told investigators there was no man and that she gave the ballots to Stuart. Sally told investigators that she got the ballots from Stuart around the week when Mesa County Elections ballots began to arrive in Grand Junction, starting on Oct. 11. 

Investigators said that victims are still being located and confirmed and there is indication there may be more than 20 victims. 

According to the 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has agreed to process the ballots and envelopes sized by investigators for possible fingerprint evidence. Five ballots were submitted in the first rush batch for analysis. 

The potential voter fraud was investigated by the 21st Judicial DA's Office, along with other local, state and federal agencies, including the CBI and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. 

Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross released this statement after the arrests: I am deeply grateful for the diligence and thorough efforts of the District Attorney's Office in addressing this matter. I am proud our security measures are effective, and we will remain vigilant to safeguard the integrity of our elections. I am committed to transparency and accountability at every step of the election process so that voters in Mesa County can have confidence that their ballots are secure.