Since Corrie Houck didn’t make the ballot as a candidate for the Denver City Council last year, you might wonder why officials would bother prosecuting her for using forged petition signatures.
It’s an understandable question, but we’re glad the district attorney’s office is taking this seriously and charging her with multiple counts of forgery, perjury and attempting to influence a public official.
Election fraud — even in the early stages of the process — undermines a fundamental pillar of the democratic system.
And in Houck’s case, the affidavit for the arrest warrant suggests fraud was rampant, with more than half of the signatures failing to match those on file with the Elections Division and a few belonging to people who either were deceased or in no position to sign a petition in the first place.
Was Houck herself even aware that two of the “signatures” were by Sesame Street characters? Even if she wasn’t, a massive abuse of the process by which a candidate petitions onto the ballot clearly occurred, as outlined in the affidavit.
The DA was right to throw the book at her.
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