Seventy-year-old last year to voter fraud. She intercepted her deceased landlord鈥檚 ballot, forged his signature, and sent it in. She got caught. When the man鈥檚 widow was notified that her deceased husband had voted in the state where they used to live, she notified authorities.
Sadly, Lewis wasn鈥檛 even part of a vast conspiracy to throw the primary. Her motive appears to have been a combination of ignorance and annoyance. She said she didn鈥檛 realize it was a serious offense. She 鈥済ot sick of forwarding their mail… so [she] just voted for him.鈥�
All but identified by the Heritage Foundation are just that, boring. No shadowy Soros-funded cabals coordinating efforts to steal elections from promising candidates. No Russian or Chinese saboteurs hacking vote totals to take their preferred candidate to victory. Rather, it抖阴ap people who attempt to vote twice or vote for a dead person or ex-spouse. The only mildly interesting case on record is that of Vicki Lyn Stuart, a postal carrier, and her co-conspirator Sally Jane Maxedon, . Three of the 12 fraudulent ballots passed signature verification and were counted before the two Mesa County residents, who said they were trying to prove election fraud was real, got caught.
The paucity of cases is a testament to our voting system in Colorado with its many checks and balances. All ballots are delivered by the United States Post Office. If undeliverable, they are returned to the county clerk鈥檚 office and noted as undeliverable. The ballots are voided. No ballot will be sent to those voters unless they update their registration. Anyone who does not receive his or her ballot can notify the clerk鈥檚 office. That voter will then be able vote in person and anyone who tries to vote in their place will be investigated. Voters can also track their turned-in ballot online.
Additionally, each county clerk’s office tests the machines before, during, and after each election day. When the election is over, a bipartisan canvass board tests machines and certifies the results. It抖阴ap a good system.
One might say, if it抖阴ap not broken, why try to fix it? There is a reason. Because too many Americans think it抖阴ap broken. A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and USAFacts found only a third of Americans trust government certifications of election results 鈥渁 great deal鈥� or 鈥渜uite a bit.鈥�
The lack of faith in elections is not a reflection of the elections themselves. Most states have had very few instances of fraud according to the Heritage tabulation. The state with the highest number of voter fraud instances over the past four decades, Minnesota, still had only 138 cases.
The lack of trust is due 100% to the lies told about the elections by President Donald Trump and his enablers. His self-serving duplicity has eroded the robust faith that Americans should have in their county clerks and the systems they have put in place. Unfortunately, simply pointing out the integrity of our systems is not enough to dispel six years of constant falsehood. Action is needed.
We can take a small step toward helping fellow Americans regain faith in their elections here in Colorado by voting for Amendment 84. It will require voters to provide the last four digits of their Social Security number or driver鈥檚 license on their ballots. If they forget, they will be notified so that they can provide that identification.
Not only would the measure prevent crimes like the ones noted above, but it would also give fellow Coloradans greater faith in our system. When the president tries to stop mail-in voting through unconstitutional means, we will have yet another way to show our system works just fine.
Krista Kafer is a Sunday Denver Post columnist.
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