Secretary of the State Jena Griswold didn’t comment on if any suspects have been identified or arrested, but added they will release details when they can.
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - The Colorado Secretary of State announced on Thursday that they believe ballots for the upcoming presidential election were “intercepted.”
The alleged crime and voter fraud reportedly occurred in Mesa County. The Secretary of State believes that about a dozen voters within Mesa County had their ballots intercepted and filled out without their knowledge. The alleged criminals then mailed the fraudulent ballots to the clerk’s office using USPS boxes.
Secretary of the State Jena Griswold didn’t comment on whether any suspects have been identified or arrested but added they will release details when they can. It isn’t clear if a member of USPS was involved or a member of the clerk’s office.
“This fraud was found early in the process in Mesa County and action was taken,” Griswold explained.
Griswold said her office was alerted Wednesday morning, and she believes the Mesa County Clerk started looking into this situation on Tuesday. Griswold believes the ballots were intercepted during the signature verification process, adding three were already counted and those votes can’t be reversed. However, those voters are reportedly getting a second ballot to vote. Griswold couldn’t comment on if more than three fraudulent ballots may have made it through.
The scheme was identified during the signature verification process when signatures on mail-in ballots are checked aginst the signatures the state has on file for each voter.
“We’ll have to let the criminal investigation play out, we don’t know the motive” Griswold stated.
She encouraged voters to go to a trusted source for information.
This is a developing story and this article will be updated.