One of the women accused of stealing and fraudulently casting more than a dozen ballots ahead of last November’s election pleaded guilty Monday.
Vicki Stuart, 64, was charged with 34 counts related to the ballot theft scheme, which occurred in the lead-up to last year’s presidential election. She pleaded guilty to one count of identity theft and one count of forgery in the 21st Judicial District Court.
For much of the hearing, she answered Judge Brian Flynn’s questions with a simple “yes,” but when asked why she was willing to accept the plea agreement, she responded because “I feel like I am guilty for the part that I played in it.”
Stuart was charged in November with counts that included forgery, identity theft and attempts to influence a public servant. According to the arrest affidavit, Stuart and another woman stole more than a dozen ballots from Mesa County residents before they could be delivered to the intended voters. The goal, prosecutors said, was to test the state’s voting safeguards.
The scheme was uncovered when some voters alerted authorities after the Colorado Ballot tracking system informed them their ballots were being processed, even though they hadn’t received their ballots yet. State officials said three of the stolen ballots that were cast fraudulently did make it through the signature verification process and were counted as legitimate votes.
At the time of the theft, Stuart was working as a U.S. Postal Service employee in Grand Junction with direct access to ballots that had been sent in the mail in October of 2024. She is friends with the other woman charged in the case, Sally Jane Maxedone (also known as Sally Jane Smith). Maxedone is due in court Thursday for a review hearing.
Stuart will next appear in court for sentencing. That date is set for June 25, 2025.
