As Election Day 2022 nears its conclusion, ballots have been tabulated all day as Americans cast their votes, and those staffing the polls are keeping a look out for any anomalous behavior.
Since the 2020 election, those who attempted to meddle with elections have become aware of voter fraud. Already in this election, Colorado has more examples than its fair share.
CPR News reported last month that “Colorado is one of the few states that mails paper ballots to every registered voter. Once voters have received their ballot, they can mail it back, drop it at a secure box. or throw it away and vote in person.”
In the same month, NPR reported that “The Colorado Secretary of State’s office, which oversees the state’s elections, accidentally mailed about 30,000 postcards to non-citizens who were not eligible to vote containing instructions on how to register. At least some of the people who received the postcards are living in the country without authorization.” Posters on social media speculated that the “accident” could not have been an accident.
Now, an arrest has followed from an inquiry into a second incidence of alleged tampering in the same state.
Voting equipment in Colorado is secured with locks and tamper-evident seals, making it obvious if someone has attempted to get access. According to Ortiz and the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, trigger alerts render machines useless if they are tampered with, which is what occurred in Pueblo.
On June 28, poll workers heard sounds coming from a voting booth in the afternoon. When a poll worker investigated and cleaned the machine, they discovered an error notice and alerted a supervisor. The machine’s tamper-evident seals looked to have been compromised, according to the secretary’s office. The equipment was taken out of operation immediately for inquiry.
After months of investigation, officials have finally made an arrest in this case.
During the June primary election in Colorado, a man allegedly placed a USB flash drive into a voting machine, prompting police to arrest him on suspicion of tampering with voting equipment.
According to ABC News, the High-Tech Crime Unit of the Pueblo Police Department arrested registered Democrat Richard Patton, 31, on Thursday in conjunction with an investigation into felony accusations of interfering with voting equipment and misdemeanor counts of cybercrime-unauthorized access. The Pueblo County registrar and recorder, Gilbert Ortiz, verified on Friday that Patton had been a registered Democrat since 2019, when he converted from the Green Party.
It is unclear exactly what his motivations are. Authorities asserted that no electoral information was accessed and that the June 28 incident did not materially affect the voting process. However, analysts warn that even unsuccessful intrusions might become significant issues in the next midterm elections.
According to court papers, Patton was being detained without bond at the Pueblo County Judicial Center prior to an upcoming advisement hearing on Friday.
On Thursday, another election-related event occurred in the same state of Colorado.
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
The Gateway Pundit reported that Colorado authorities are in the midst of investigating a mail-in ballot that contained a mysterious powdery white substance. Local law enforcement agencies were called to the Adams County elections office after personnel discovered a ballot containing an unknown chemical.
As a response, local law enforcement agencies showed up in Hazmat suits to take the substance to a lab. Per the Colorado Sun, “Initial testing indicated the substance is not toxic, said Adams County Clerk Josh Zygielbaum, but it will take as many as five days before officials know for sure if the substance is benign.” CONTINUE READING…