DENVER (CN) — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Tuesday filed charges against six contract workers after investigators say they discovered the names of 21 dead people on petitions submitted to place a Republican congressional candidate on the 2022 primary ballot.
While running to represent the 7th Congressional District, which encompasses Jefferson County southwest of Denver, Republican Carl Andersen hired Oregon-based firm Grassfire LLC to help gather the 1,500 signatures needed for his name to be printed on the party’s primary ballot.
Andersen did not appear on the ballot. In the general election, voters chose Democrat Brittany Pettersen over Republican candidate Erik Aadland following the retirement of longtime representative Ed Perlmutter, also a Democrat.
Still, Andersen's petitions raised eyebrows among state election regulators, prompting Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold to reject almost 80% of the signatures on them. Anderson sued the Colorado secretary of state's office in April 2022 over these rejections, only to abruptly withdraw his complaint ten days later.
Recent allegations offer new context to this controversy. Of the 4,462 "lines" of voter names submitted to Griswold's office, 1,967 signatures did not match state records of voters, authorities allege.
Nine hundred more of the names weren't associated with Colorado voters at all, authorities say. Meanwhile, 21 people who purportedly signed the petitions are dead.
Because those 4,462 lines of voter data allegedly included duplicated names, it's unclear at press time how many total people may have had their names used without their consent as part of the alleged fraud.
In a statement announcing the charges, Phil Weiser, Colorado's Democratic AG, said the election system in Colorado — and indeed, across the United States — "depends on individuals playing by the rules and acting with integrity."
"When candidates, their agents, or others in the process are deceitful and break the rules, they must be held accountable,” Weiser stated. "We will continue to take such cases serious and take action when the evidence so warrants."
After finding the alarmingly high number of incongruous signatures, Griswold's office sent the petitions to the attorney general’s special prosecutions unit for further investigation.
In addition to the names of 21 deceased individuals, investigators discovered several duplicated names — leading the state attorney general to file charges against six Grassfire employees. The charges were brought in the District Court for the City and County of Denver on Tuesday.
Each individual faces one count of attempting to influence a public servant, a Class 4 felony, and one count of perjury, a Class 2 misdemeanor. The felony is punishable by up to 6 years in prison with up to a $500,000 fine.
“Any person who breaks election law should be held accountable,” Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement. “My office will continue to preserve a fair process for candidates to petition onto the ballot in Colorado.”
Court documents allege that Diana Watt, who worked as a deputy state director for Grassfire at the time of the petitions, agreed to sign her name on petitions collected by a coworker who had to catch a last-minute flight to Florida. The submitted petitions allegedly contained fraudulent names.
"Watt knew at the time she should not have done that. Watt knew it was wrong and that she would pay for it," the affidavit alleges.
In addition to its work with Andersen, Grassfire also helped with the successful campaigns of Lisa Frizell, the new Republican state representative for Colorado House District 45, and Darren Weekly, the new Douglas County sheriff.
A statement from the attorney general’s office clarified there is no suspected criminal misconduct from either Grassfire or Andersen. In his own statement to Courthouse News, Andersen said he was cooperating with authorities and praying for justice.
“I have been cooperating with the attorney general’s office for approximately the last year in their investigation into the potential fraud committed by circulators that worked for the company I hired to collect signatures,” Andersen said. “I was informed that I did nothing wrong. I pray that justice prevails and the system improves and this never happens to another candidate again.”
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