This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
'It is one of those election crimes we are told does not happen, despite so many opportunities'
Democrats for years have insisted that theft of mail-in ballots and subsequent election fraud, from those ballots being submitted with forged signatures, doesn't happen.
Or at least so rarely that it's not really worth addressing.
A Colorado guilty plan now confirms that it has happened, and does happen.
The Federalist report explains Vicki Stuart, 64, a former postal worker in Mesa County, Colorado, is awaiting sentencing after she pleaded guilty to stealing – and casting – mail-in ballots in the state's 2024 general election.
"It is one of those election crimes we are told does not happen, despite so many opportunities for fraud in the ballot chain of custody," the report said.
Colorado, in fact, some years ago went to all mail-in ballots, over which there have been multiple accusations of theft and fraud.
The report explained Stuart and an alleged accomplice, Sally Jane Maxedon, 60, were accused of identity theft, attempt to influence a public servant, and forgery.
Maxedon has yet to enter a plea but is scheduled to appear in court this week.
Prosecutors in the county said the case developed when elections workers started getting telephone calls from people who said they'd been told their ballot was rejected because of a signature conflict.
However, they hadn't yet gotten their ballots.
Investigators noted the complaints came from people in proximity to one another, and they noted some of the ballots were mailed to locked boxes used by the USPS. Stuart was a mail carrier in the area at the time.
She confirmed delivering some ballots, but also revealed she inappropriately marked "return to sender" on some because their names weren't on the mail boxes.
There's no requirement that all people living at an address have their names listed on those boxes.
Eventually investigators found and identified a fingerprint from Maxedon on at least one ballot and she admitted casting ballots that did not belong to her but said she had been given them by an unknown man who wanted to "test" the system.
She eventually confirmed she knew Stuart, and said the two wanted to "test" the signature verification system.
The report warned, "The more hands on a ballot, the more opportunity for fraud. Mail-in ballots take voting outside election offices and trusts the USPS with bags of ballots. From election worker, to postal sorter, to postal carrier, to voter, to postal carrier, to county election envelope opener, to ballot counter — each time a new hand touches a ballot, there is an opportunity for fraud."
