Six people who gathered signatures to try to get a Republican congressional candidate on Colorado’s primary ballot in 2022 have been charged by state prosecutors on accusations that they submitted signatures of dead people and signatures that didn’t match voter files.

One of the people was charged in February, while the other five were charged last week, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, which announced the charges Tuesday.

The six people gathered signatures for Republican Carl Andersen, a Woodland Park businessman, who sought to qualify for the primary ballot for the 7th Congressional District. But an unusually high number of the signatures gathered were disqualified by the Secretary of State’s Office and Andersen failed to make the ballot.

That led to an investigation by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the district attorneys in Denver and Jefferson counties.

Investigators interviewed several people whose names appeared on signature petitions for Andersen who said they had never signed the petition, according to an arrest affidavit. Some people’s names who were on the petition who said they had moved from Colorado before the petition had been circulated.  

This isn’t the first time signature gathering for a candidate has led to criminal charges in Colorado. A woman pleaded guilty to forging names for an unsuccessful Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Jon Keyser, in 2016. The saga that played a role in unraveling Keyser’s campaign.

The Secretary of State’s Office regulates companies that gather signatures for candidate and ballot initiative petitions, as well as the individuals hired by those companies. The legislature this year increased penalties for companies that knowingly allow signature gatherers to commit fraud and also increased licensing requirements.

The six people charged in the Andersen case worked for Grassfire LLC, a Wyoming company with offices in Oregon. The company hasn’t been charged and told authorities they did not know of the alleged illegal activity by the petitioners.

After the petition was rejected, Andersen sued in district court in an effort to make the primary ballot, but his case was rejected. Democrat Brittany Pettersen, of Lakewood, was elected to represent the 7th District.

Each of the six is charged with one count of attempting to influence a public servant, which is a Class 4 felony punishable by up to six years in prison, and one count of perjury, a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to 120 days in jail.

Diana Watt, a woman with a Florida drivers license, was Grassfire’s leader, according to an arrest affidavit. She is charged, along with Jordahni Rimpel, of Georgia; Terris Kintchen, of Arizona; and Alex Joseph, Patrick Rimpel and Aliyah Moss, all of Florida.

Watt’s arrest affidavit was filed in February and the others were filed June 13. The accused have not been arrested, according to the attorney general’s office.

Watt told investigators she had been given a list of signatures by a circulator she trusted just before the circulator had to leave town for an emergency. The signatures had not yet been notarized by the circulator, so Watt put her name on them assuming they were valid. Afterwards, she learned they were fraudulent. 

“Go ahead and charge me,” she told investigators, according to the arrest affidavit. “I don’t give a (expletive) at this point.”

One of Grassfire’s owners told investigators no one had told Watt to notarize signatures she didn’t witness and that she was fired for doing so. 

Andersen is not suspected of wrongdoing, the office said. He told The Sun that he’s been cooperating with the Attorney General’s Office for the past year.

“I pray that justice prevails and the system improves and this never happens to another candidate again,” he said in a text message.

His campaign paid Grassfire more than $67,000 to gather the signatures, according to FEC records.

A website for Grassfire was no longer active Tuesday. 

Colorado congressional candidates must collect 1,500 signatures from voters in the district they want to represent to make the ballot, or they may go through the caucus and assembly process.

Former state Rep. Tracey Bernett, a Boulder County Democrat who pleaded guilty Friday to criminal charges that she lied about her residence, collected the same amount of mileage reimbursement from the legislature after she reported moving substantially closer to the Capitol in November 2021 to run for reelection in a more politically favorable district.

Bernett reported traveling 68.4 miles round trip between her home and the Capitol when she listed her address as a large house in Longmont and after she signed a candidate affidavit claiming she moved to an apartment in Louisville that is 12 miles closer to the Capitol, according to a Colorado Sun analysis of reimbursement filings obtained through an open records request. 

The mileage reimbursements were an early indication that Bernett, who resigned from the legislature on the first day of the 2023 lawmaking term as she faced criminal charges for allegedly lying about her move, had falsified her address. Prosecutors say she never really resided at the Louisville apartment, and on Friday Bernett pleaded guilty to two criminal charges, including a felony, and was given a deferred sentence that will allow her to avoid prison time.

The mileage reimbursement revelations, which first surfaced in a January complaint filed by the chairwoman of the Boulder County GOP, are among the clearest evidence that Bernett tried to live in one Colorado House district and represent people living in another one.

Bernett didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment in recent weeks. Neither did her criminal offense attorney.

Bernett on Nov. 3, 2021, changed the address of her voter registration from a 4,000-square-foot home in Longmont to a 700-square-foot apartment in Louisville, so she could run for reelection in House District 12, which leans heavily in Democrats’ favor.

The Longmont home was drawn into the adjacent House District 19 during the once-in-a-decade redistricting process in 2021. The new District 19 favors Republicans and was represented by GOP Rep. Dan Woog, of Erie.

Colorado law requires that candidates for state legislature live in their districts for at least a year before Election Day. (Election Day 2022 was Tuesday, Nov. 8.)

Bernett won reelection to her second two-year term in the legislature on Nov. 8, beating Republican Anya Kirvan by 54 percentage points despite the criminal charges, which were announced on Nov. 4, weeks after ballots had been mailed to voters.

Woog, meanwhile, lost his reelection bid in November to Democrat Jennifer Parenti by about 500 votes despite the Republican lean of House District 19. 

The charges against Bernett stemmed from a complaint filed in September 2022 with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office by Theresa Watson, chair of the Boulder County Republicans. The complaint asked prosecutors to look into whether Bernett broke the law by casting a ballot in the June 28, 2022, primary while registered at an address where she didn’t actually live.

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, a Democrat, said in a written statement when the charges were filed late last year that his office conducted “a thorough investigation” that included witness interviews, search warrants and the analysis of cellphone location data. The mileage reimbursements don’t appear to have been a part of the original criminal probe.

After the investigation, Bernett was charged with felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, forgery and providing false information about a residence. She was also charged with misdemeanor counts of perjury and procuring false registration. 

Bernett pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a Class 4 felony, and perjury, a Class 1 misdemeanor. She was sentenced to two years of probation and 150 hours of community service as part of a deferred penalty that, if completed, will allow her to avoid prison time. The other charges filed in the case were dropped by prosecutors.

Boulder County District Court Judge Nancy W. Salomone, who accepted Bernett’s guilty plea on Friday, accused Bernett of undermining public trust in elected officials.

“If you’re living and breathing in this country, you know that trust in public servants is fractured and endangered in an unusual way,” Salomone said. “When one person takes an action that encourages that distrust that our country has in its public servants, it endangers all public servants. And it endangers democracy.”

Bernett was elected to the House District 12 seat in November 2020 and submitted her first mileage reimbursement form in January 2021, when she was sworn into office, requesting payment for traveling 68.4 miles to and from the Capitol. 

When Bernett returned to the legislature in January 2022 for her second year as a state lawmaker, after she reported moving to Louisville, she once again submitted a mileage reimbursement form seeking compensation for traveling 68.4 miles to and from the Capitol despite having moved closer to the downtown Denver building.

The fastest route to the Capitol from Bernett’s Longmont home is 34.2 miles, according to Google Maps, while the fastest route from the Capitol to the Louisville apartment is 22.1 miles. Round trip, the Louisville apartment is 24 miles closer to the Capitol than the Longmont home. 

The legislature’s 2022 mileage reimbursement rate was 53 cents per mile, so Bernett should have been collecting about $13 less in mileage reimbursement per round trip to the downtown Denver building after moving to Louisville.

Records show Bernett filed for reimbursement for nearly 80 trips to and from the Capitol in 2022.

Watson, the former Boulder County GOP leader who first raised questions about Bernett’s mileage reimbursements, demanded in a letter sent by her attorney that Bernett repay the roughly $1,000 in mileage reimbursement she allegedly wasn’t entitled to. 

Bernett was among three lawmakers who ran for reelection in 2022 whose residency was questioned in the wake of the 2021 redistricting process. She is the only one who was criminally charged. 

After Bernett’s resignation, a Boulder County vacancy committee selected Louisville City Councilman Kyle Brown, a Democrat, to fill her seat.

Former state Rep. Tracey Bernett, a Boulder County Democrat, on Friday pleaded guilty to criminal charges filed after she lied about her place of residence to run for reelection last year in a more politically favorable district.

Bernett, appearing in court Friday, pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a Class 4 felony, and perjury, a Class 1 misdemeanor. She was granted a deferred sentence, which means she won’t face prison time as long as she completes the terms of the deferred sentence, including two years of probation and 150 hours of community service. 

Bernett resigned from the legislature on Jan. 9, the first day of the 2023 lawmaking term. She was charged in November, days before the election. As part of her guilty plea, other charges Bernett faced in the case were dismissed. 

Bernett tearfully apologized as she pleaded guilty and was sentenced. “My life has always involved public service,” she said.

David Kaplan, Bernett’s attorney, called the situation an aberration.

The charges stem from a complaint filed in September with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office by Theresa Watson, chair of the Boulder County Republicans. The complaint asked prosecutors to look into whether Bernett broke the law by casting a ballot in the June 28 primary while registered at an address where she doesn’t actually live.

Bernett on Nov. 3, 2021, changed the address of her voter registration from a 4,000-square-foot home in Longmont to a 700-square-foot apartment in Louisville, so she could run for reelection in House District 12, which leans heavily in Democrats’ favor, according to a nonpartisan analysis of election results dating back to 2016.

The Longmont home was drawn into the adjacent House District 19 during the once-in-a-decade redistricting process in 2021. The new District 19 favors Republicans and was represented by GOP Rep. Dan Woog, of Erie.

Colorado law requires that candidates for state legislature live in their districts for at least a year before Election Day. (Election Day 2022 was Tuesday, Nov. 8.)

Woog lost his reelection bid in November to Democrat Jennifer Parenti by about 500 votes,  despite the Republican lean of House District 19.

Bernett won reelection to her second two-year term in the legislature Nov. 8, beating Republican Anya Kirvan by 54 percentage points despite the criminal charges, which were announced on Nov. 4, weeks after ballots had been mailed to voters.

After Bernett’s resignation, a Boulder County vacancy committee selected Louisville City Councilman Kyle Brown to fill her seat until a new representative is voted into office in the 2024 election. 

Watson’s complaint cited Facebook posts from Bernett that appeared to show her still living at the Longmont home. It also included photographs of the Louisville apartment that appeared to show it vacant.

“As a result of the investigation, it is alleged that Ms. Bernett falsely represented her primary residence over a nine-month period,” the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office said when charges were announced. “It is alleged that, although she rented an apartment in Louisville in order to qualify for elected office, she did not actually live there. And, in so doing, she filed false, sworn documents with the Secretary of State’s Office. It is also alleged that by misrepresenting her residence, she voted in a primary election in a district in which she does not actually live.”

In accepting Bernett’s guilty plea, Boulder County District Court Judge Nancy W. Salomone said she had no doubt the former lawmaker would be able to comply with the terms of the deferred sentenced. She also noted the seriousness of the case.

“If you’re living and breathing in this country, you know that trust in public servants is fractured and endangered in an unusual way,” Salomone said. “When one person takes an action that encourages that distrust that our country has in its public servants, it endangers all public servants. And it endangers democracy.”

Nearly a quarter of the 100 state lawmakers serving in the Colorado General Assembly this year will have at some point been appointed to a legislative seat by a vacancy committee, a side door into the Capitol that bypasses the normal election process and grants enormous power to partisan panels that can be as small as a few dozen people.

There will be 24 lawmakers serving in the legislature in 2023 — 14 House members and 10 senators — who secured a statehouse seat through a vacancy appointment, including at least nine legislators who will have been appointed in a 12-month period. 

The next vacancy appointment is slated to happen Saturday, when a panel of Boulder County Democrats will meet to select a replacement for former House District 12 Rep. Tracey Bernett, who resigned on the first day of the 2023 legislative session. She faces felony charges accusing her of lying about her residence to run for reelection last year in a more politically favorable district. 

When a Colorado lawmaker resigns from the General Assembly in the middle of their term or drops out after making the primary or general ballots but before the election takes place, their replacement to represent tens of thousands of Coloradans at the Capitol is filled by a legislative vacancy committee made up of a small group of party insiders. By comparison, each Colorado House district has about 90,000 residents, while each Senate district has about 165,000 residents. 

In recent years, vacancy appointments have played a major role in the makeup of the legislature. Lawmakers appointed by a vacancy committee often go on to use their incumbency advantage to be reelected. Some vacancy-appointed lawmakers have been serving at the Capitol for more than a decade. 

One of the longest serving lawmakers at the Capitol who originally entered the legislature through a vacancy appointment is state Sen. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat. 

She was appointed by a vacancy committee in 2010 to fill an opening created when an incumbent abandoned her reelection campaign. Fields has served three, two-year terms in the House and is in her second four-year term in the Senate. This year marks her 13th legislative session. Fields’ term ends in January 2025. 

The latest person to secure a statehouse seat through a vacancy appointment is Perry Will, a New Castle Republican and former state representative, who on Jan. 8 was selected by a 19-person vacancy committee to serve the two years left in Sen. Bob Rankin’s Senate District 5 term. 

Rankin, a Carbondale Republican, resigned Jan. 10, the day after the 2023 legislative session began, saying he and his wife wanted to start a new chapter in their lives. 

The 19 people on the vacancy committee that appointed Will represent 0.01% of the 163,126 people who live in Senate District 5.

In House District 12, the Democratic vacancy committee that meets Saturday has 53 people on it, according to CBS4. Two of the members are themselves candidates for the vacancy. 

The legislature passed a law last year hoping to expand the number of people who sit on vacancy committees. It requires each Democratic and Republican vacancy committee to include, at a minimum, a legislative district’s entire central committee, the size of which varies from district to district. 

The central committees, which have the discretion to determine who sits on vacancy committees, are made up of precinct captains who are selected at precinct caucuses, every-other-year gatherings where party insiders convene at a set time and place, which can severely limit participation. 

Before the law change, there was no set minimum for how many people had to serve on a vacancy committee, and the panels were frequently made up of fewer than 10 people. 

Will, for instance, was appointed to his House seat in 2019 by a vacancy committee that had just six members. Will was selected that year to replace Rankin, who was appointed by a vacancy committee to the Senate to replace Republican Sen. Randy Baumgardner, who resigned from his seat. 

Will lost his House reelection bid in November but is back in the legislature thanks to his Jan. 7 vacancy appointment.

“I think it’s a fair process,” Will said. “I think I do good work down here and my intentions are good. I’m just here to do stuff for the people.” 

Will said he has always strived to represent everyone in his district, whether he was sent to the Capitol by 19 people or 160,000. 

“Once you’re elected, you represent everyone in your district,” he said. You don’t just represent the Democrats. You just don’t represent the Republicans. You represent everyone.”

Will told The Sun he plans to run for reelection to his Senate seat in 2024.

Lawmakers appointed to their seats through the vacancy process can serve up to two years in the legislature before voters get a chance to weigh in. That gives them the potent power of incumbency, and they are almost always reelected to their positions.

Take Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, as an example. He was appointed to his seat in February 2022, replacing Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, who resigned to take a job in the Department of Defense. Hinrichsen then won a close election in a swing district Nov. 8.

There have been only a few examples of vacancy-appointed lawmakers not winning reelection. 

State Rep. Judy Reyher, a southeast Colorado Republican, was appointed to a House seat in 2017 and then lost in the 2018 election. Republican Kurt Huffman was appointed last year to represent House District 43 after the end of the 2022 lawmaking term. He never actually served in the legislature before he lost by 400 votes in the Nov. 8 election to Rep. Bob Marshall, a Democrat from Highlands Ranch.

Democratic Sen. Rachel Zenzinger of Arvada was appointed to her seat by a vacancy committee in 2013, but after serving a year in the legislature lost her reelection bid in 2014. She ran again for the seat in 2016 and won and was reelected in 2020. Zenzinger is now chair of the Joint Budget Committee, the powerful panel that drafts the state budget.

State Rep. Lorena Garcia, an Adams County Democrat, was appointed to her seat Jan. 4 following the resignation of former state Rep. Adrienne Benavidez just before the start of the 2023 legislative session. Benavidez was reelected in November before deciding to resign, which means Garcia will serve a full two-year term before the voters in House District 35 get a chance to decide whether they want her to represent them.

“The vacancy process is terrible,” said Garcia, a community activist who leads the Statewide Parent Coalition. “It’s just absurd. I felt like I was going through a coronation process.”

Garcia said there were 40 people on the vacancy committee that voted her into office. That represents 0.04% of the 89,889 people living in her district.

“It wasn’t an inclusive process,” Garcia said, explaining that most people don’t know who their precinct organizers are, let alone how to contact them if they want to have input on the vacancy process.

Only five states use a vacancy appointment process similar to Colorado’s. In the rest of the country, legislative vacancies are filled through special elections or by appointments made by county commissioners or the governor. 

Ohio is an exception. In that state, the legislature fills its own vacancies.

“It’s flawed,” Morgan Carroll, the outgoing chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party, said of Colorado’s legislative vacancy appointments, ”but it’s the best flawed process we’ve got.”

Carroll said gubernatorial appointments leave the decision up to just one person, as opposed to a group. She also said special elections are problematic because they are costly and favor wealthy candidates. 

Additionally, Colorado’s lawmaking term each year lasts just 120 days. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to facilitate a special election in that timeframe. 

CORRECTION: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, to correct the spelling of state Rep. Mandy Lindsay’s name.

The top 10 Colorado donors to federal candidates and political spending committees during the 2022 election cycle gave a total of $16.5 million, with 60% of that going to Republican candidates and committees.

That’s based on a Colorado Sun analysis of campaign contributions from Coloradans via data from the Federal Election Commission. 

The amount pales in comparison to national megadonors, who gave hundreds of millions to candidates and super PACs ahead of the 2022 election. Only the top two Colorado donors made OpenSecrets’ list of top 100 federal donors last year — Tatnall Hillman, an Aspen oil and gas heir and retired Navy captain, and Merle Chambers, a Denver philanthropist who led an oil and gas firm. Hillman gave $3.6 million to Republicans, while Chambers gave $2.6 million, most of it to Democrats.

National super PACs affiliated with the Republican or Democratic parties were the top recipients from Colorado’s top 10 donors, receiving more than $10 million of the $16.5 million the top donors donated to federal candidates and committees.

But plenty of candidates in Colorado and in other states, often in competitive contests, also benefited from the top Colorado donors’ campaign cash.

The top 10 donors may have given more money by routing their contributions through dark-money groups, political nonprofits that don’t have to disclose their donors. But that money is virtually impossible to track.

Here’s a detailed look at how each of the top 10 federal election donors from Colorado in 2022 spent their money:

1. Tatnall Hillman

Hillman inherited his wealth from his family’s oil, coal and steel businesses.

Most of Hillman’s money went to Drain the DC Swamp, a Republican super PAC. That  $2.7 million accounted for nearly all the PAC’s $2.8 million raised in 2022. Drain the DC Swamp spent nearly $2.9 million, much of it in Ohio, where the Republican congressional candidates it supported often lost in primary or general elections.

Hillman also gave directly to many national candidates, often exceeding the $5,800 candidate limits and racking up more than $250,000 in refunds.

Of that $250,000, nearly $60,000 was refunded by the campaign of recently elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican. The maximum federal donation for candidates was $5,800. 

Among the federal candidates who didn’t get cash from Hillman: Colorado GOP U.S. Senate nominee Joe O’Dea.

There’s no record of Hillman donating to the Colorado Republican Party’s federal committee or any state-level GOP PACs or candidates.

2. Merle Chambers

Chambers is a lawyer who served as CEO of a Denver-based oil and gas company for 20 years. After selling the company in 1997, she turned to philanthropy — and Democratic politics.

She donated $627,500 to various Democratic National Committee accounts, including nearly $300,000 each to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. 

Chambers also donated to several federal committees for state Democratic parties and Democratic candidates in key U.S. Senate contests in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio and Wisconsin. 

She also donated to the reelection campaign of Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who defeated O’Dea, as well as the five Colorado Democrats who won their U.S. House races last year.

At the state level, Chambers donated $709,000 to candidates and committees during the 2022 election cycle. That included $250,000 to All Together Colorado, a super PAC supporting Democratic state Senate candidates.

3. Michael Smith

Smith, a Broomfield oil and gas executive, donated nearly $2.5 million to federal candidates and political spending committees, with most of that benefiting the GOP. 

Smith’s spending included the biggest one-time 2022 federal political donations by a Coloradan: two $1 million contributions to the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC affiliated with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. The first donation came in October 2021 while the other was made in October 2022.

Smith donated $200,000 to a super PAC supporting Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska. He also donated directly to Murkowski and many other GOP candidates.

But Smith donated smaller amounts, totaling about $81,000, to Democratic candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. 

Smith didn’t contribute to Bennet, O’Dea or any of the other 2022 federal candidates in Colorado, nor did Smith give any money at the state level in Colorado.

4. Phil Anschutz

Anschutz, one of the wealthiest 200 people in the world, is worth about $11 billion. His Anschutz Corp. owns the Los Angeles Kings and the arena where they play, the Coachella Valley Music Festival, and Clarity Media, which includes The Colorado Springs and Denver Gazettes.

The Sun combined donations from the Anschutz Corp. with those of its owner. That revealed nearly $2.5 million in federal donations during the 2022 election cycle. It included $1 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with Sen. McConnell. 

Anschutz gave $375,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting House Republicans. The National Republican Congressional Committee received $290,700 from Anschutz, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee $271,000.

Anschutz also donated to several GOP congressional candidates, including the $5,800 maximum to O’Dea, and to state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer in her unsuccessful 8th Congressional District campaign. He also gave $5,800 to U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona before she left the Democratic Party in December to become unaffiliated. She is up for reelection in 2024.

Anschutz donated $17,100 to state-level candidates and committees for the 2022 election cycle.

5. Pat Stryker

Stryker, who lives in Fort Collins, inherited a portion of her family’s shares in a medical technology company, the Stryker Corporation. She’s been a major donor to Democratic causes for more than two decades, including spending $3 million to oppose a 2002 ballot measure in Colorado that would have prevented bilingual K-12 education. 

During the 2022 election cycle, Stryker gave more than $1.5 million to Democratic candidates and causes on the federal level. Stryker donated $500,000 to the DSCC and $292,000 to the DCCC. 

She also gave to a range of congressional candidates, including $5,800 each to Bennet and U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, of Denver; Joe Neguse, of Lafayette; Brittany Pettersen, of Lakewood; Jason Crow, of Centennial; and Yadira Caraveo, of Thornton.

Stryker gave about $5,800 to state-level candidates and committees for the 2022 election cycle.

6. Larry Mizel

Mizel is chairman of MDC Holdings, a Denver real estate development company. He was the most bipartisan donor on The Sun’s top 10 list.

The vast majority of Mizel’s federal political spending — $830,450 of a little more than $1 million total — benefited Republican candidates and committees. He donated $200,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund and the same amount to United Democracy Project, a federal super PAC that supported and opposed Democratic candidates in congressional primaries.

Mizel’s federal election 2022 spending benefited Democratic and Republican candidates. 

Bennet received campaign donations from Mizel, as did GOP U.S. House candidates Kirkmeyer, Erik Aadland and Tim Reichert, as well as Republican U.S. Reps. Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn.

At the state level, Mizel donated nearly $78,000, including $45,000 to the Senate Majority Fund, the state-level super PAC working to secure a GOP majority in the Colorado Senate.

Mizel also gave $25,000 to Strong Colorado for All, the super PAC supporting Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. And Mizel was one of five co-chairs of Polis’ 2023 inaugural committee, Colorado For All.

7. Thomas Barron

Barron is a Boulder author of the young adult series The Merlin Saga and a longtime Democratic donor, giving nearly $723,000 at the federal level during the 2022 cycle.

His biggest donation was $250,000 to the League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund, followed by $73,000 to the DSCC and $65,100 to the DCCC. He also gave $60,000 to The Lincoln Project, a group that opposed Republican candidates aligned with former President Donald Trump and supported Democrats running against them in 2022.

Barron also donated to former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger and the Illinois Republican’s leadership PAC. Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol. He didn’t run for reelection.

Barron donated more than $6,800 to state-level candidates and committees in Colorado.

8. Adam Lewis

Lewis, who lives in Aspen, lists himself as a self-employed investor and philanthropist. He gave nearly $704,000 to Democratic candidates and committees in 2022.

Of that, $419,000 went to the LCV Victory Fund. Another $100,000 went to People for Good Sense, a super PAC that raised $269,000 and aired TV and digital ads against GOP U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the final weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

Lewis also donated to Boebert’s Democratic opponent, former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, as well as Bennet, Pettersen, Caraveo. 

He gave $4,400 to state level candidates and committees.

9. Ning Mosberger-Tang

Mosberger-Tang, of Boulder, was the first female developer at Google and now is a private investor, philanthropist and freelance photographer.

She gave nearly $685,000 to Democratic candidates and committees in 2022. That included $350,000 to the LCV Victory Fund. She also donated to Bennet, Neguse, Pettersen and Caraveo. 

At the state level, Mosberger-Tang donated nearly $197,000, with $100,000 going to the Conservation Colorado Victory Fund, and $85,000 more being donated to other super PACs supporting Democratic candidates.

10. Jeff Keller

Keller, the president of APC Construction, a Golden road construction company, gave nearly $585,000, with $525,000 to super PAC American Policy Fund, which supported O’Dea. Keller also gave $37,500 to the NRSC and $5,800 to O’Dea’s campaign. O’Dea owns Concrete Express, a Denver construction company.

The American Policy Fund supported O’Dea in the primary and general elections. Keller and other Colorado residents and companies donated 35% of the $10.2 million raised by the super PAC. It also received nearly $1.3 million from the Senate Leadership Fund in October.

Gov. Jared Polis provided a road map Tuesday for how he plans to spend his next four years leading Colorado as he was sworn into office for his second term. 

“When you listen to enough folks, you realize that in many ways people across our state are asking for some of the same things in different ways: practical solutions to the rising cost of living in every corner of our state, safe communities, good schools, affordable access to health care, the opportunity to build a great life for yourself and your family and the freedom to forge your own path without the government telling you how to live your life,” Polis said in a speech delivered on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol. 

He added: “I don’t think I’d be standing before you today if we hadn’t shown some real progress on delivering on different parts of this vision.”

Here are the top lines from the Democrat’s 2023 inaugural address: 

1. “Throughout our first term, we may have crossed some big things off our to-do list, but that doesn’t mean the list in front of us today is any shorter than it was four years ago.”

Polis was busy during his first term. He signed into law bills reimagining Colorado’s oil and gas regulations, providing universal kindergarten access and targeting high health care costs. 

The governor is still working out what his agenda will be over the next four years — it wasn’t clear until after the Nov. 8 election that he would continue to have a Democratic legislature to work with — but his line about a long to-do list ahead suggests he plans to be as busy in the next four years as he was during the last four.

We know that affordable housing, water management and conservation, and economic development are top of mind for Polis.

2. “Anything we can do, we must when it comes to helping you hold onto more of your hard-earned money.”

The governor and Democrats in the legislature started really prioritizing affordability in Colorado during the 2022 legislative session. They plan to continue making it a focus this year, though it’s not so clear how. 

In 2022, the legislature slashed and paused fees — several of them enacted by Polis and Democrats in prior years — and reshaped the tax code to try to lower Coloradans’ financial burden. The General Assembly isn’t planning to continue the vast majority of the fee relief, instead focusing on what Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, called “structural problems.”

Affordable housing will be a big focus.

“For many people in our state, life is too hard and too expensive,” Polis said. “We’re going to reduce housing costs across Colorado with options for every budget to afford to live in communities where people work and want to live.”

The governor also promised “lower taxes, lower transportation costs, lower medical bills, lower business fees and, of course, lower housing costs.” He didn’t outline his detailed plans for accomplishing that hefty list of vows. 

3. “We’re going to tackle crime head on, yes by holding criminals accountable, but also by preventing crime before it happens.”

This was one of the most interesting lines of the governor’s speech.

There are many criminal justice activists in the legislature now, including state Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver, who don’t want to see Colorado enact any new criminal penalties. Instead, they want to see more investment in behavioral health and drug treatment. 

Polis wants those things, too, but he has also already called for the legislature this year to beef up Colorado’s car theft statutes to combat the rising number of stolen vehicles across the state. 

Republicans in the legislature see tougher criminal penalties as the sole solution to Colorado’s rising crime rates. Polis appears to be walking a line between the sides.

4. “We’re going to continue on our bold path toward making Colorado 100% renewable-energy by 2040.”

This is a promise Polis made during his first gubernatorial campaign, in 2018. The governor has said the state has already “locked in” 80% renewable energy by 2030. But what steps the legislature and the Polis administration will take to make the goal a reality remain unclear. 

Liberal Democrats and Polis have clashed in recent years over policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change. 

Polis also mentioned during his speech that Colorado has an “increasingly scarce water supply,” but he didn’t provide any specific plans on how to address that fact.

5. “Nobody could have predicted all that these last four years would bring, the trials, the tribulations, the challenges.”

Polis’ first term was marked by a string of tragedies and hurdles, the biggest of which was undoubtedly the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The pandemic began a little over a year after Polis took office, forcing him to lead the state through a once-in-a-century global disaster, which is still unfolding. The governor shut down schools and businesses, asked people not to leave their homes and had to abandon at least a year of policy proposals at the legislature as the state prepared for a sharp tax revenue decrease that never materialized. 

Polis didn’t directly reference the pandemic and the upheaval it caused during his speech Tuesday, but it was clear that is what he was talking about. 

Meanwhile, two tragedies hit close to the governor’s Boulder home during his first term. In March 2021, 10 people were killed in a shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in the Table Mesa neighborhood. Then, in December 2021, the Marshall fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Superior and Louisville.

Just weeks after his reelection, five people were killed and at least 17 others were wounded in a mass shooting at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs.

The state has also contended with several other record-breaking wildfires over the past few years, including the Cameron Peak, East Troublesome and Pine Gulch fires. A total of 6,761 wildfires burned more than 744,120 acres in Colorado in 2020 alone. 

Addressing such emergencies over the past four years often distracted Polis and the legislature from their aspirations. Polis acknowledged Tuesday the future always holds uncertainty. 

6. What the governor didn’t mention

Abortion and gun control.

Democratic lawmakers this year are expected to introduce legislation tightening Colorado’s gun regulations, including by enacting a waiting period between when someone can purchase a firearm and access that weapon and by raising the age at which someone can purchase a rifle or shotgun to 21. 

The legislature is also poised to expand who can petition a judge to order a temporary seizure of someone’s guns under what’s called the red flag law. 

Some Democrats, including Epps, want to go even further by banning a host of semi-automatic weapons, a policy proposal the governor is likely to reject. 

Democratic leadership in the legislature also plans this year to shore up abortion access in Colorado, indicating reproductive rights will be a major focus of the General Assembly in 2023. The governor, however, did not mention abortion once during his inaugural address despite signing into law last year a measure enshrining nearly unfettered abortion access in Colorado. 

By Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press/Report for America

RIFLE — Debbie Hartman voted for Lauren Boebert for Congress in 2020 and again in 2022, delighted by Boebert’s unequivocal defense of cultural issues that animate the Republican Party’s far right flank. But as Hartman shopped recently at a supermarket in this Rocky Mountain ranching outpost, she had one piece of advice for the Colorado lawmaker.

“Tone down the nasty rhetoric on occasion and just stick with the point at hand,” said Hartman, 65, a veterinary tech assistant.

That sentiment reflects Boebert’s challenge as she begins her second term in the House. In her relatively short time in Washington, she has built a national profile with a combative style embracing everything from gun ownership to apocalyptic religious rhetoric. Constituents such as Hartman in the Republican-leaning 3rd Congressional District laud Boebert for defending their rights, but cringe at her provocations, contributing to an unexpectedly tight race last year that she won by just 546 votes out of more than 300,000 cast.

“She tapped into what Trump was doing, and she maybe took it too far in some instances,” said Alex Mason, 27, adding that Boebert, whom he supports, is still more tactful than former President Donald Trump.

In an interview, Boebert said “this slim victory, it opened my eyes to another chance to do everything that I’ve been promising to do.”

To the congresswoman, that means being “more focused on delivering the policies I ran on than owning the left,” adding she hoped “to bring the temperature down, to bring unity.”

For much of past week, however, the temperature on Capitol Hill was only rising. Boebert was a leading voice among a group of lawmakers who refused to support Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker, a historic revolt against a party leader. McCarthy finally won the gavel early Saturday morning.

Some of Boebert’s toughest words are increasingly aimed at fellow Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, another controversial Trump acolyte who was one of McCarthy’s most prominent conservative supporters.

“I have been asked to explain MTG’s beliefs on Jewish space lasers, on why she showed up to a white supremacist conference. … I’m just not going to go there,” Boebert said over the phone as she rode in a car winding through the high canyons near her hometown of Silt before the speakership vote. “She wants to say all these things and seem unhinged on Twitter, so be it.”

Boebert, 36, insisted that while she may try to pick fewer fights with the left, she’s not going to become a different person even after barely beating an opponent, Democrat Adam Frisch, who had targeted what he called Boebert’s “angertainment.”

“A lot of those on the left have said: ‘Look at your election, are you going to tone it down, little girl?'” she said. “I’m still going to be me.”

The slim margin has stirred discussion about whether she might be vulnerable in another race next year, with Frisch saying he has received encouragement from lawmakers in Washington to run again.

But, she said, she’s thinking more about what it’s like to be a member of the majority party.

“In the minority, all I had was my voice, the only thing I could do was be loud about the things I’m passionate about,” she said. Now, “We have to lead right now, we have to show Americans that we deserve to be in the majority.”

People in Boebert’s district, which runs from the ruddy red mesas in Grand Junction that stand sentry over rugged, high-desert terrain to the coal mining hamlets nestled in the Rockies, say the landscape promotes a kind of frontier libertarianism. To many voters, Boebert became a standard-bearer for a rural way of life and values that they feel are being both persecuted and forgotten.

Larry Clark, who spent 50 years tending to his family’s 160-acre ranch before his relatives sought cash for the land, points to one example. Many more liberal city-dwellers east of the Rockies voted to reintroduce wolves to the Western Slope, where the predators’ prey includes livestock that drives the local economy.

“They don’t understand what rural life is like,” said Clark, who only had encouraging words for Boebert, a staunch opponent of reintroduction. “Send the wolves to Boulder.”

Even if they’ve grown wary of her excesses, many of Boebert’s supporters say she’s amplified their concerns nationally and served as an an antidote to progressive Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

Raleigh Snyder, a retired aircraft mechanic in Grand Junction, said Boebert was America’s only chance against “endemic corruption” in Washington. Still, he said “she’s probably going to have to learn to temper her approach, but don’t change her goals.”

Outside Rifle’s City Market, Maryann Tonder said she doesn’t want Boebert “even to feel that she has to compromise principles to get stuff done.” But, she added, “you can do it in a way that is not over the top.”

Another Boebert supporter in Rifle, Julie Ottman, who was pushing a cart out of City Market, said, “sometimes you got to give a little bit in order to get.”

But others are pressing Boebert to stand firm.

“I don’t want her to bow,” said Mike Gush, 64, a coal miner from the small town of Craig. “I would stop supporting her.”

Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

State Rep. Tracey Bernett, a Boulder County Democrat facing criminal charges for allegedly lying about her residence to run for reelection last year in a more politically favorable district, announced her resignation from the legislature late Sunday, just hours ahead of the start of Colorado’s 2023 lawmaking term.

Bernett’s resignation was announced in a statement released by her attorneys.

“Ms. Bernett has chosen to relinquish her position while addressing these charges rather than compromising the policy initiatives she deems important to … the citizens of Colorado,” the statement from the Stimson LaBranche Hubbard law firm said.

The 2023 legislative session in Colorado begins Monday, which is when Bernett’s resignation takes effect.

“I am proud of what I have accomplished in my time in office and want to thank all the people who have supported and worked with me in moving Colorado forward,” Bernett said in a written statement.

Bernett was charged in November with felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, forgery and providing false information about a residence. She was also charged with misdemeanor counts of perjury and procuring false registration. 

The charges stem from a complaint filed in September with the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office by Theresa Watson, chair of the Boulder County Republicans. The complaint asked prosecutors to look into whether Bernett broke the law by casting a ballot in the June 28 primary while registered at an address where she doesn’t actually live.

Bernett on Nov. 3, 2021, changed the address of her voter registration from a 4,000-square-foot home in Longmont to a 700-square-foot apartment in Louisville, so she could run for reelection in House District 12, which leans heavily in Democrats’ favor, according to a nonpartisan analysis of election results dating back to 2016.

The Longmont home was drawn into the adjacent House District 19 during last year’s once-in-a-decade redistricting process. The new District 19 favors Republicans and was represented by GOP Rep. Dan Woog, of Erie.

State lawmakers must live in their districts for at least a year before Election Day under Colorado law. (Election Day 2022 was Tuesday, Nov. 8.)

Woog, meanwhile, lost his reelection bid in November to Democrat Jennifer Parenti by about 500 votes despite the Republican lean of House District 19. Parenti will be sworn into office Monday.

Bernett won reelection to her second two-year term in the legislature on Nov. 8, beating Republican Anya Kirvan by 54 percentage points notwithstanding the criminal charges, which were announced on Nov. 4, weeks after ballots had been mailed to voters.

Watson’s complaint cited Facebook posts from Bernett that appeared to show her still living at the Longmont home. It also included photographs of the Louisville apartment that appeared to show it vacant.

“As a result of the investigation, it is alleged that Ms. Bernett falsely represented her primary residence over a nine-month period,” the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office said when charges were announced. “It is alleged that, although she rented an apartment in Louisville in order to qualify for elected office, she did not actually live there. And, in so doing, she filed false, sworn documents with the Secretary of State’s Office. It is also alleged that by misrepresenting her residence, she voted in a primary election in a district in which she does not actually live.”

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, a Democrat, said in a written statement then that his office conducted “a thorough investigation” that included witness interviews, search warrants and the analysis of cellphone location data.

“I appreciate the efforts of the investigators assigned to this case, including using proper investigative tools such as the judicially authorized search warrants,” he said. “Based on the facts and the law, we will now move forward with a criminal prosecution. As in every case, our goal is to seek the right outcome — without fear or favor.”

Bernett has repeatedly refused to discuss details of her residency with The Colorado Sun.

The Sun first reached out to Bernett about her address change in August and then again in late September after Watson’s complaint was filed with Boulder County prosecutors.

The first time The Sun reached out to Bernett, she declined to comment. She didn’t return a voicemail The Sun left for her in September and didn’t respond to an attempt to contact her through the spokesman for the House Democratic caucus.

Bernett then again refused to discuss her residency with The Sun in November, days after she was reelected. When confronted by reporters at the Colorado Capitol, Bernett pulled a tiny piece of paper from her wallet and appeared to read from it — “I have counsel that’s handling this for me. I cannot comment.” —before walking away.

The criminal case against Bernett is still pending.

A Democratic vacancy committee in Boulder County will select Bernett’s replacement at the legislature for the next two years. Voters in House District 12 will have to wait until 2024 before they will have a chance to elect a new representative.

By Lisa Mascaro, Farnouch Amiri and Kevin Freking, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Unable to elect Republican leader Kevin McCarthy as the new House speaker Tuesday, the Republicans adjourned for the day in disarray as the party tries to regroup from his a historic defeat after a long, messy start for the new Congress.

The surprise move end to Day One shows there is no easy way out for McCarthy whose effort to claim the gavel collapsed to opposition from conservatives. Needing 218 votes in the full House, McCarthy got just 203 in two rounds — less even than Democrat Hakeem Jeffries in the GOP-controlled chamber. A third ballot was even worse, with McCarthy losing 20 votes as night fell on the new House GOP majority, tensions rising as all other business came to a halt.

The House agreed to return at noon Wednesday.

Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Garfield County, played a key role Tuesday in blocking McCarthy from securing the speaker’s gavel by repeatedly casting votes for conservative Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

McCarthy had pledged a “battle on the floor” for as long as it took to overcome right-flank fellow Republicans who were refusing to give him their votes. But it was not at all clear how the embattled GOP leader could rebound after becoming the first House speaker nominee in 100 years to fail to win the gavel with his party in the majority.

Without a speaker, the House cannot fully form — swearing in its members, naming its committee chairmen, engaging in floor proceedings and launching investigations of the Biden administration.

“We all came here to get things done,” said the second-ranking Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, in a rousing speech urging his colleagues to drop their protest.

Railing against President Joe Biden’s agenda, Scalise said, “We can’t start fixing those problems until we elect Kevin McCarthy our next speaker.”

It was a chaotic start to the new Congress and pointed to a tangled road ahead with Republicans now in control of the House. A new generation of conservative Republicans, many aligned with Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, want to upend business as usual in Washington, and were committed to stop McCarthy’s rise without concessions to their priorities.

“The American people are watching, and it’s a good thing,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who nominated Jordan as an alternative for speaker.

It was the second time conservatives pushed forward a reluctant Jordan, the McCarthy rival-turned-ally, who earlier had risen to urge his colleagues, even those who backed him, to drop vote for McCarthy.

“We have to rally around him, come together” Jordan said.

Jordan got six votes in the first round, 19 in the second round and was on track to pick up a similar number in the third.

Smiling through it all, McCarthy huddled briefly with aides, then appeared intent on simply trying to wear down his colleagues. Earlier, he strode into the chamber, posed for photos, and received a standing ovation from many on his side of the aisle after being nominated by the third-ranking Republican, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who said the Californian from gritty Bakersfield “has what it takes” to lead House Republicans.

But on the first vote a challenge was quickly raised by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a conservative former leader of the Freedom Caucus, who was nominated by a fellow conservative as speaker. In all, 19 Republicans peeled away, denying McCarthy the majority he needs as they cast votes for Biggs, Jordan or others in protest.

The mood was tense, at least on the Republican side, as lawmakers rose from their seats, in lengthy in-person voting. Democrats were joyous as they cast their own historic votes for their leader, Rep. Jeffries of New York.

In the first-round tally, McCarthy won 203 votes, with 10 for Biggs and nine for other Republicans. In the second, it was 203 for McCarthy and 19 for Jordan. Democrat Jeffries had the most, 212 votes, but no nominee won a majority.

After a raucous private GOP meeting, a core group of conservatives led by the Freedom Caucus and aligned with Trump, were furious, calling the meeting a “beat down” by McCarthy allies and remaining steadfast in their opposition to the GOP leader.

“There’s one person who could have changed all this,” said Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the chairman of the Freedom Caucus and a leader of Trump’s effort to challenge the 2020 presidential election.

The group said McCarthy refused the group’s last-ditch offer for rules changes in a meeting late Monday at the Capitol.

“If you want to drain the swamp you can’t put the biggest alligator in control of the exercise,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

“He eagerly dismissed us,” said Boebert.

Boebert said Tuesday that she wouldn’t vote for McCarthy unless he agreed to her conditions, including taking up a vote on term limits for members of Congress.

“As it stands,” Boebert tweeted Tuesday morning, “I will not be voting for Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker of the House.”

Lawmakers convened in a new era of divided government as Democrats relinquish control of the House after midterm election losses. While the Senate remains in Democratic hands, barely, House Republicans are eager to confront President Joe Biden’ after two years of Democratic Party control of both houses of Congress.

Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled closed the last session, moving aside for new House leadership in her Democratic Party, to a standing ovation from colleagues on her side of the aisle.

The chaplain opened with a prayer seeking to bring the 118th Congress to life.

But first, House Republicans had to elect a speaker, second in succession to the presidency.

Even with an endorsement from former President Trump, McCarthy fell short.

Democrats enthusiastically nominated Jeffries, D-.N.Y., who is taking over as party leader, as their choice for speaker — a typically symbolic gesture in the minority but one that took on new importance as Republicans were in disarray.

“A Latino is nominating in this chamber a Black man for our leader for the the first time in American history,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the third-ranking Democrat, in nominating his colleague.

A new generation of Trump-aligned Republicans led the opposition to McCarthy. They don’t think he is conservative enough or tough enough to battle Democrats.

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a leader of a more pragmatic conservative group, said “frustration was rising” with the minority faction.

A viable challenger to McCarthy had yet to emerge.

The second-ranking House Republican, Scalise of Louisiana, could be a next choice, a conservative widely liked by his colleagues and seen by some as a hero after surviving a gunshot wound suffered during a congressional baseball game practice in 2017.

A speaker’s contest last went multiple rounds in 1923.

This year’s deadlock was in stark contrast to the other side of the Capitol, where Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will officially become the chamber’s longest-serving party leader in history.

Despite being in the minority in the Senate, where Democrats hold a slim 51-49 majority, McConnell could prove to be a viable partner as Biden seeks bipartisan victories in the new era of divided government. The two men were expected to appear together later in the week in the GOP leader’s home state of Kentucky to celebrate federal infrastructure investment in a vital bridge that connects Kentucky and Ohio.

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.

By Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press

A man accused of tampering with a voting machine during Colorado’s primary election is mentally incompetent and cannot continue with court proceedings, a judge ruled Thursday.

At the request of Richard Patton’s lawyer and prosecutors, Judge William Alexander also ordered that Patton undergo outpatient mental health treatment in hopes of making him well enough so he can be prosecuted.

The judge’s ruling followed an evaluation by an expert who found that Patton was mentally incompetent. To be considered legally competent to proceed, people accused of crimes must be deemed able to understand proceedings and help in their own defense by being able to communicate with their lawyers.

Patton’s lawyer had requested the evaluation but no details about why have been released. Patton has not been asked to enter a plea yet and the case against him will not resume until he is found to be competent.

Patton was arrested Nov. 3 and later charged with tampering with voting equipment, which state lawmakers this year made a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. It was formerly a misdemeanor offense with a penalty of up to 364 days in jail.

According to his arrest affidavit, Patton showed up to vote in person on the last day of the primary election, June 28. He made some poll workers nervous after asking about what kind of security there was at the voting center because of threats that had been made against election workers. An election worker escorted Patton to a voting machine, showed him how to use it, and he was able to use it to fill out a ballot and print out a marked paper ballot to cast, investigators said.

After Patton voted, a person who went to clean the voting machine discovered an error message saying that a USB device had been detected, according to the affidavit. Other election workers said the security seal on the machine was either damaged or had been tampered with and a USB port pulled out, it said.

Patton denied any wrongdoing in an interview with The Pueblo Chieftain in November. He said he requested help from an election worker when he voted because he is dyslexic and accused the worker of inserting something into the machine.