Forged voter signatures on the petitions for U.S. Senate Republican candidate Jon Keyser has voters asking Denver7 how they can find out if their names were used without their permission.
The Secretary of State's Office compiled all the signatures collected, whether they were accepted or rejected, for the following Republican Senate candidate campaigns. Click the candidates' names below to search their voter petitions to see if your name appears.
If you find your name on a petition and you did not sign that petition, please contact Denver7 at politics@thedenverchannel.com and let us know.
The four candidates who turned in signatures submitted enough names to fill Mile High Stadium. They submitted 75,368 signatures, even though only 45,942 were deemed valid. Those signatures include 10 on Keyser petitions that Denver7 has already confirmed to be forged.
When a candidate for U.S. Senate petitions their way onto the ballot, they are required to collect 1,500 valid signatures from each of the state's seven Congressional Districts, for a total of 10,500 signatures. The voters signing the petition must belong to the same political party as the candidate, in this case they must be registered Republicans. The voter signing the petition must list their address and that address must match the one on file with the Secretary of State's office. If that voter signs multiple petitions, the candidate who turns in their petition first gets credit for that signature.
The same signature collector, named Maureen, turned in the signatures Denver7 found to be forged. Signatures could start being collected on Feb. 4. According to the Secretary of State's office, she registered as a Republican on Feb. 15. As of April 14, she is now listed as an Independent.
Denver7 also discovered that she has a criminal history. In New York State in 1998, she was charged with fraud, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of attempted fraud and sentenced to five years probation. In 2005, she was charged with grand larceny and robbery, but pleaded down to lesser charges.
Keyser submitted 16,067 signatures, with 11,436 accepted. However, he fell 86 signatures short in Congressional District Three. The Secretary of State rejected signatures over technical errors made by a signature collector. The home address the collector provided on the petition affidavit was different than the address on file with the Secretary of State. Keyser challenged the ruling in court and a judge, who is allowed more leniency than the Secretary of State, determined the rejected signatures could count.
Graham is the only candidate who made the ballot by turning in signatures without having to go to court over rejected signatures. He turned in 22,876 signatures, yet only had 12,891 validated.
Blaha turned in 17,844 signatures, with 10,507 deemed valid. The Secretary of State determined that Blaha had fallen short in three congressional districts because of multiple technical errors by signature collectors. The addresses some of the collectors wrote on the petition affidavits were different than the addresses on file with the Secretary of State. Blaha successfully challenged those rejected signatures in court.
Frazier submitted 18,581 signatures, with 11,108 accepted. The Secretary of State determined that Frazier had fallen short in four congressional districts because of the same multiple technical errors by signature collectors. Frazier sued the Secretary of State, but was only able to get the judge to approve some of the signatures. He did not get enough to qualify for the ballot. He is currently appealing to the Colorado Supreme Court to allow more signatures to be counted.
The winner of the June 28 mail-in primary will take on Sen. Michael Bennet in the November general election.
Denver7 uncovered multiple forged signatures while going door-to-door to the voters' homes to verify the authenticity of the names following a tip last week.
Marshall Zelinger is a Peabody Award-winning journalist. He covers politics, breaking news and investigations for Denver7 and co-hosts Politics Unplugged on Sunday afternoons on Denver7. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Email your story tips to Marshall at Marshall@thedenverchannel.com.
