DENVER – A petition-gatherer working on behalf of Jon Keyser’s Republican U.S. Senate campaign turned in the signature of a dead voter, Colorado’s top elections official said Tuesday.
Secretary of State Wayne Williams said that he first learned about the incident Tuesday and referred the matter to Denver’s district attorney’s office, which is reviewing reports that a handful of forged signatures were found on petitions aimed at qualifying Keyser for the GOP primary.
Keyser planned to participate in a GOP debate Tuesday night hosted by The Denver Post. The winner of the June 28 primary will take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in November.
Williams had said Monday there was no indication that any GOP Senate campaign – including Keyser’s – was aware of any irregularities in the handling of petitions by subcontractors for the campaigns. Keyser’s campaign has not said when it first learned of any irregularities.
Williams did say Tuesday that an elections staff member was notified in mid-April that the petition-gatherer, identified as Maureen Moss, had turned in the signature of a dead voter. That signature was rejected.
The staff member also was told by a company that initially reviews candidate petition signatures for the secretary of state’s office that several signatures on a petition submitted by Moss looked similar. The staff member couldn’t determine if the signatures were forged.
Attempts to reach Moss by telephone Tuesday weren’t successful.
KMGH-TV reported last week that it had uncovered 10 forged voter signatures among petitions supporting Keyser. In an interview with the Post, Keyser blamed the forged signatures on an employee hired by a canvassing firm tied to his campaign.
“All signature-gatherers sign an affidavit promising they will comply fully with the law, including a promise that they personally witnessed every signature on their petition,” Keyser spokesman Matt Connelly said Tuesday. “That affidavit also says that they are aware of the consequences associated with disobeying the law.”
Keyser and candidates Jack Graham, Robert Blaha and Ryan Frazier chose to petition their way onto the primary ballot by collecting at least 1,500 voter signatures from each of Colorado’s seven congressional districts. Darryl Glenn was voted into the primary at the Colorado GOP’s state convention in March.
Williams initially ruled that Keyser’s campaign didn’t get enough signatures to qualify for the primary. A judge overturned that decision after a challenge by Keyser. The dead voter’s signature is not a factor in the debate over forged or rejected signatures.
Blaha also got a court order reversing a finding that he collected too few signatures. Frazier’s name is provisionally on the ballot while he appeals his disqualification for too few signatures to the Colorado Supreme Court.
