Two women arrested in Mesa County's voter fraud scheme tried to test the system: Docs

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Two women arrested Wednesday for attempting to cast over a dozen fraudulent ballots for the Nov. 5 election in Mesa County were attempting to “test” the county's ballot signature verification process. to see if forged signatures could be detected on an affidavit in the case.

Vicki Lyn Stuart, 64, and Salley Jane Maxedon (aka Smith), 60, face identity theft, attempted influence over a public official and forgery charges in connection with the attempted voter fraud investigation in the county announced late by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold last month.

The investigation began after Mesa County Elections Division employees notified the 21st Judicial District Attorney's Office that at least four alarmed voters had come forward after being informed that their mail-in ballots for the 2024 general election had been rejected by the county elections division due to discrepancies the signature had been rejected.

Prosecutors said that between Oct. 11 and Oct. 24, Stuart and Maxedon “hatched a plan to 'test' the ballot signature system” to determine whether the county's signature verification process would detect fraudulent ballots.

The plan involved obtaining ballots, forging voter signatures, and then submitting those fraudulent ballots to the Mesa County Board of Elections.

Stuart, a USPS mail carrier, was identified as a potential suspect after investigators from the DA's office determined that the ballots came from two different USPS mailbox “clusters” that only mail carriers can access, and that all post offices that returned fraudulent ballots “”were on the same mail delivery route as the USPS Mail Carrier route for that area/subdivisions,” the affidavit states.

When questioned by DA investigators, Stuart initially denied stealing ballots and giving them to someone else who may have cast them fraudulently. However, fingerprint evidence linked at least one of the stolen ballots to Maxedon, who was contacted by investigators on Election Day, arrest documents show.

Maxedon admitted to investigators that she “mistakenly filled out ballots that did not belong to her,” and said the ballots were provided by Stuart, a friend at the post office whom she has known and been with for about three years she last spoke in November. 3.

During the interview, Maxedon told prosecutors investigators that she received the stolen ballots from Stuart around the week of Oct. 11, when mail-in ballots from Mesa County began arriving at people's homes, the affidavit said.

In detail: measuring election fraud

Arrest documents indicate that Maxedon told investigators that Stuart gave her about six or seven stolen ballots shortly afterward and that Stuart told her to fill them out so they could “test” the county's ballot signature verification process.

Days after giving her friend the fraudulent ballots, Maxedon told investigators that Stuart contacted her after learning that a criminal investigation was underway to find out who in Mesa County was trying to return fraudulent ballots and that “both were worried about being caught for their actions,” according to the affidavit.

On November 6, investigators contacted Stuart during a traffic stop. During that encounter, investigators discovered she was in possession of stamps “of the same type of flag depicted on the stolen ballot envelopes,” according to arrest documents.

Both were subsequently arrested.

In a statement Wednesday, Mesa County Clerk of Court Bobbie Gross said she was deeply grateful for the District Attorney's Office's “diligence and thorough efforts in resolving this matter.”

“I am proud that our security measures are effective, and we will remain vigilant to protect the integrity of our elections,” Gross said, adding that she is “committed to transparency and accountability at every step of the electoral process so that voters in Mesa County can do this and be confident that their ballots are secure.”

Prosecutors said Wednesday that more fraudulent ballots were still being found and “there are indications that there may be more than 20 victims.”

As of Election Day, 16 people had reported being victims of voter fraud in Mesa County.