A Mesa County mail carrier and her friend were arrested on suspicion of identity theft and forgery after allegedly stealing at least 16 ballots and filling them out to “test” the voting signature system, the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
Vicki Lyn Stuart, 64, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of 16 counts of identity theft and forgery and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant, all felonies, according to an arrest affidavit.
Sally Jane Maxedon, 56, was arrested on suspicion of six counts of identity theft and forgery and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant.
The district attorney’s office began investigating the case on Oct. 21 after several Mesa County residents contacted elections staff about their ballots being rejected for signature discrepancies despite never having voted, investigators wrote in an arrest affidavit.
Investigators found the mailboxes where ballots were stolen from were all on the same U.S. Postal Service mail route and Stuart was a substitute carrier for the route on Oct. 12, when the ballots were delivered.
Stuart initially told investigators she did not deliver ballots to mailboxes if the name on the ballot didn’t match the name on the mailbox and returned “about 20 ballots” to a bin for rejected or “return to sender” mail at the USPS annex.
The bin is kept in an area that can be accessed by a common door code, and post office staff gave conflicting information about whether the bin was returned to the distribution center the same day or the following week, according to the affidavit.
Investigators later found a fingerprint on one of the forged ballots that matched Maxedon, who did not work for USPS.
Maxedon initially denied that Stuart gave her the ballots, claiming a man from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation gave her the ballots after meeting up in the mall parking lot.
She later told investigators she knew Stuart and the pair came up with a plan to “test” Mesa County’s signature verification system for ballots.
“The stated desired outcome was for (Maxedon and Stuart) to determine if the signature verification process would detect if the forged signatures were not those of the known voter signatures on file with Elections,” investigators wrote in the affidavit.
When contacted by investigators Wednesday, Stuart asked if they wanted to put her in prison “just because I mishandled some mail.”
The DA’s office believes there may be more than 20 people whose ballots were stolen, but 16 thefts were confirmed as of Tuesday, according to the affidavit.
A spokesperson for the USPS Denver office confirmed Wednesday that Stuart is an employee, that she was placed on “emergency non-duty status” and is not carrying mail.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold first announced the stolen ballots scheme on Oct. 24 and said three of the ballots were 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 did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
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