The former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party was sentenced to four years of probation and 300 hours of community service for voter fraud. Steve Curtis blamed a “major diabetic episode” for causing him to vote his ex-wife’s absentee ballot in October 2016. Curtis, 57, told District Judge Julie Hoskins Friday it was “a customary thing” for him to fill out his wife’s ballot and he didn’t know it was illegal, but he said he didn’t remember doing it. In October of 2016, Kelly Curtis called the Weld County Clerk and Recorder’s Office to obtain her mail-in ballot. She was told she had already voted, CBS Denver reports.
The Weld County District Attorney’s Office investigated and, using DNA evidence and handwriting analysis, alleged that Steve Curtis forged his wife’s name on her ballot and mailed it to the clerk’s office.
“He knew exactly what he was doing,” said Deputy District Attorney Tate Costin during the trial’s closing arguments. “He received it in the mail, opened it, voted, signed it, sealed it back up and sent it in. If he were going to sign a name during this confused diabetic state, wouldn’t he sign his own name? Why her name? She hadn’t even lived in the house for 11 months.”
Full Article: Former Colorado GOP chairman sentenced for voter fraud – CBS News.