USPS worker, one other person arrested in stolen ballot conspiracy in Mesa County

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The day after the presidential election, two people in Mesa County were arrested on charges related to stolen ballots that were fraudulently voted in the Grand Valley.

 

Vicki Stuart and Sally Maxedon were both arrested by investigators from the district attorney’s office and charged with identity theft, attempting to influence a public servant and forgery, according to arrest affidavits reviewed by Rocky Mountain PBS.

 

Sixteen individual victims of the alleged ballot theft are named in the arrest documents, along with the State of Colorado, Mesa County Election Judges, clerk and recorder Bobbie Gross, and DA investigators.

 

The fraud scheme hit the news two weeks before the election, when the signature verification process at the county elections office rejected a number of ballots, and when contacted about the signatures, those voters said they hadn’t filled out their ballots, or even received them.

 

The affidavits describe a conspiracy to “test” that signature verification process by two Grand Junction women, one of them, Stuart, a United States Postal Service mail carrier.

 

In an email to Rocky Mountain PBS, the postal service confirmed that Stuart is an employee and that she has been placed on “emergency, non-duty status.”

Investigators say that Stuart took dozens of ballots during her route on October 12 instead of delivering them, then had Maxedon fill out and forge signatures on the stolen ballots.

 

According to the affidavits, there may be more than 20 victims of the ballot theft.

 

“I am deeply grateful for the diligence and thorough efforts of the District Attorney’s Office in addressing this matter. I am proud our security measures are effective, and we will remain vigilant to safeguard the integrity of our elections,” said Mesa County clerk and recorder Bobbie Gross in an emailed statement.