Woman charged in Mesa County ballot theft nearing plea deal

A woman charged with participating in a scheme to steal and fraudulently cast ballots in Mesa County is nearing a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Sally Maxedone made a brief appearance in a 21st Judicial District courtroom Thursday, where her defense attorney requested a July hearing on a plea agreement and possible sentencing in the case. The other woman in the case, Vicki Stuart, accepted a plea agreement earlier this month and is awaiting sentencing.

The terms of Maxedone’s possible agreement were not discussed during the hearing, which lasted just over 1 minute. In the other agreement, Stuart, who had faced 34 charges, pleaded guilty to one count of identity theft and one count of forgery. 

The women were arrested in November after an investigation found that a number of mail ballots had been filled out and returned by someone other than the voters they were intended for. At the time, Stuart was working as a postal carrier for the United States Postal Service. Investigators said the women were attempting to test the security of the state’s voting system. 

One of the earliest indications that something was amiss came when some residents who’d had their ballots taken received notifications through the state’s ballot tracking system that their votes had been processed. In total, state officials say three of the fraudulently cast ballots made it through the signature verification process and were ultimately counted as legitimate votes. 

Maxedone is set to appear back in court on July 15. Stuart is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on June 25.