To quote the great show Scrubs, "Dead people should be dead." They also shouldn't be voting--and an investigation out in Colorado shows that quite a few dead people are doing just that. A CBS4 investigation in several Colorado counties dug up some disturbing anecdotes of people "voting" several years after they died, and questions are being raised as to how dead voters are receiving ballots.
From CBS Denver:
The CBS4 investigation has triggered criminal investigations in El Paso and Jefferson counties along with a broad investigation by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.
“It’s not a perfect system. There are some gaps,” acknowledged Williams.
One of the most glaring cases was that of Sara Sosa in Colorado Springs. She died on Oct. 14, 2009. However, CBS4 uncovered voting records that showed ballots cast for Sosa in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Her husband, Miguel, died on Sept. 26, 2008. But CBS4 unearthed records showing that a vote was cast in his name the next year, 2009.
These ballots were not cast by in-person voting, but were instead cast via mailed ballots. The names of the deceased were not removed from the voter rolls, despite the fact that the voters were not actually alive to vote. At least an additional 78 dead people were still listed as "eligible" voters in Colorado.
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For what it's worth, Colorado already has a voter ID law, but evidently this isn't enough to prevent all forms of fraud. Colorado's Secretary of State Wayne Williams is taking this new investigation seriously and will be taking proactive steps in order to prevent additional voter fraud in the upcoming election. Williams confirmed to CBS4 that, “It is impossible to vote from the grave legally."
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