A Colorado man will serve jail time and two years of probation for attempting to vote multiple times in the 2022 general election in Routt County.
Robert Anzulewicz, 41, of Steamboat Springs pleaded guilty June 4 to mail-in ballot election fraud, a misdemeanor. Routt County Judge Erin Wilson sentenced him to 20 days in jail and two years of probation.
Anzulewicz attempted to vote thrice in the 2022 election: with his own mail-in ballot, by forging another person's mail-in ballot and then by voting in person, 14th Judicial District Attorney Matt Karzen said in an email.
It's unclear why Anzulewicz tried to vote three times, Karzen said.
"Because it never became necessary to learn how he was voting, we purposefully did not expose ourselves in the DA's office to that information in order to avoid any concerns anyone may have about politics contaminating the prosecution process," said Karzen, who is an elected official.
The Routt County Clerk and Recorder's Office flagged the fraudulent voting attempt and rejected Anzulewicz's additional ballots, according to a statement from county officials.
"This type of offense is rare, but because of the processes and procedures that the Clerk & Recorders Office has in place, the offense was immediately identified," a county news release says.
There were no presidential candidates on the ballot in 2022, but races for both a U.S. Senate seat and a House of Representatives position were. Numerous state and county positions were decided in the election as well, including governor, a county commissioner position and sheriff.
Anzulewicz is registered as unaffiliated with a political party, online records from the Colorado secretary of state show.
"We want the citizens of Routt County to know that we are working hard every election to identify any type of election offense, and we have processes in place to catch this type of fraud," Routt County Clerk and Recorder Jenny Thomas said in the release.
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