Voter fraud investigation underway in Mesa County

MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced Thursday that around a dozen ballots had been fraudulently filled out and turned in Thursday in Mesa County. A criminal investigation is underway to determine who did it.

Griswold said that the ballots had been caught during the signature verification process. The ballots had been intercepted before the voters had even seen them, filled out and signed, and then mailed back to the Mesa County clerk and recorder's office. When the Mesa County Clerk and recorder reached out to those voters, the voters told the clerk they had never voted.

The discovery prompted an overall investigation into every ballot received so far by Mesa County.

"I just want to highlight and show the resiliency of our process here in Colorado that if somebody tries to do nefarious things, it will be discovered through our prosecutors," Matt Crane, Executive Director of Colorado County Clerks Association said. "It's also a great sign that the voters took responsibility when they got that letter to reach out to the county to say, hey, we think there's a problem here."

Griswold also confirmed that the U.S. Postal Service had been part of the investigation because the fraudulent ballots were mailed in.

The investigation is ongoing. This is a developing story.