A Colorado mail carrier and a friend are accused of forging stolen mail-in ballots to test election security

DENVER – A postal worker and her friend were arrested Wednesday in connection with forging stolen mail-in ballots to allegedly test the security of Colorado's voting system, according to court documents.

According to the affidavits, mail carriers Vicki Lyn Stuart and Sally Jane Maxedon were arrested on suspicion of identity theft, attempting to influence a public official and forgery. No attorneys were yet listed as representatives in court records. Neither has been formally charged yet.

In a statement, 21st District Attorney Dan Rubinstein's office said its investigators launched an investigation on Oct. 21 after residents who had never cast a ballot or ever received a ballot in the mail were informed that their ballots were due to In the event of discrepancies, their signatures would not be counted.

Colorado overwhelmingly votes by mail, which officials tout as a safe and convenient method that avoids long lines and last-minute problems on Election Day. Ballots are mailed to voters, who can either return them by mail or drop them off at the polls. Election workers compare the signatures on the mail-in ballot envelopes with the voter signatures they have on file to ensure they come from the voter to whom the ballot was mailed.

The investigation into the stolen and fraudulent ballots was announced last month by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

At the time, she said that at least 12 mailed ballots in Mesa County had been stolen and returned with fraudulent votes, three of which escaped county election officials and were counted in the election that ended Tuesday. Since the ballots themselves are not signed, there is no way to identify them once they are removed from the signature envelope.

According to the affidavits, the victims are still being located and confirmed, and investigators believe there could be more than 20 people whose ballots were stolen.

In Mesa County, former county clerk Tina Peters was recently sentenced to prison for a data breach based on false claims of voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential campaign.