Hundreds in Colorado investigated for voter fraud

 The Associated Press
March 24, 2005

DENVER ? Hundreds of Coloradans are under investigation for alleged voting violations in the November election, including casting multiple ballots, forging signatures or voting when they were ineligible, county officials say.

Prosecutors in 47 of Colorado?s 64 counties are investigating suspect ballots, The Denver Post reported Thursday.

At least 122 voters statewide apparently cast absentee ballots through the mail, then voted again on Election Day. At least 120 people in prison or on parole for felony violations ? making them ineligible to vote under state law ? face possible prosecution for casting ballots.

?Obviously these numbers are higher than we want them to be,? said Dana Williams, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Donetta Davidson, Colorado?s top elections official.

The state has procedures in place to catch some types of voter fraud. The law requires elections officials to verify the signatures of mail-in ballots, for example.

?Colorado has substantially more security measures than federal law requires and more in combination than virtually any other state,? said Mary Wickersham, who analyzes state election laws.

Jefferson County elections director Susan Miller said she doubted the irregularities resulted in double-voting in her county.

A blue-ribbon panel appointed by Davidson will recommend a number of changes in voting laws designed to correct other problems that surfaced in the last election. The proposals include requiring electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail and making it illegal for a voter registration drive worker to throw away registration forms.

Jefferson County elections officials asked prosecutors to investigate 286 cases ? 30 dealing with people attempting to vote twice and 256 stemming from suspicious signatures on absentee ballots.

In the 18th Judicial District, based in Arapahoe County, officials said several voters mistakenly filled out and signed their spouses? ballots.

Others submitted ballots sent to voters who previously lived at the same address.

In one case, a husband and wife in Douglas County each cast absentee ballots, then cast provisional ballots for fear their mail-in votes wouldn?t count, district attorney spokesman Mike Knight said.

?They were not trying to intentionally vote twice. They just wanted to make sure their vote counted. Those aren?t the kind of cases we?d be likely to prosecute,? Knight said.

El Paso County election officials reported 23 cases of prisoners or parolees who voted.

?They don?t make really good criminal cases because it?s difficult to prove criminal intent, that there was a knowing violation of election law,? District Attorney John Newsome said.