Colorado Postal Worker Connected to Ballot Fraud Sentenced

Former Mesa County postal worker Vicki Stuart was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a ballot fraud scheme last October. Stuart was convicted of stealing ballots from Mesa County residents with her friend, Sally Maxedon, and then filling out, signing and mailing the ballots — supposedly to "test" the security of the mail-in voting system.

Stuart was initially charged with 34 charges but pleaded guilty last month to one charge of identity theft and one charge of forgery. She received a five-year sentence for identity theft and two years for forgery, to be served concurrently, plus three years' parole afterward. Maxedon has a hearing scheduled in July for a pending plea agreement.

Stuart and Maxedon's "test" of the system proved it works, for the most part. The women were alleged to have stolen about twenty ballots addressed to a subdivision where Stuart delivered mail. Three of the stolen ballots were counted as legitimate before the fraud was caught by residents who were notified by the BallotTrax system that their ballot had been counted before they'd filled it out. The remainder of the fraudulently voted ballots were caught by the system before they were counted.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold responded to the sentencing in a press release Thursday, writing, "Colorado elections are safe and secure, and our election laws will be enforced. We will not let anyone threaten our elections or disenfranchise Colorado voters. I will continue to stand up for our democracy and protect the right to vote."



https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-postal-worker-sentenced-ballot-fraud-sentenced-24907832