An Ohio man pleaded guilty and was sentenced by the 4th Judicial District this month for forging signatures and other election violations during the 2024 campaigns for El Paso County commissioner.<\/p>\n
Juan Pichardo, 30, was working for the signature gathering company hired by Colorado Springs City Councilmember David Leinweber when he ran for commissioner District 3 in early 2024.<\/p>\n
According to previous Gazette reporting, the company, OnTheBallot Consulting, told the Leinweber campaign that some of the signatures appeared questionable shortly before the petition was due. Campaign manager Sarah Jack said at the time that Leinweber\u2019s friends and family collected extra signatures to ensure he would qualify for the ballot and warned the elections office of the potential issue when they were submitted.<\/p>\n
The elections office flagged suspicious activity in the signature packets and altered the District Attorney\u2019s Office, which took over the investigation.<\/p>\n
In a statement Wednesday morning, Leinweber said: \u201cProtecting the integrity of our elections is paramount, and we took immediate action to ensure full transparency. I\u2019m glad to see this matter resolved and that the individual responsible has been held accountable by the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to court records, authorities issued a warrant for Pichardo\u2019s arrest in July, charging him with 312 counts of election offenses. He was arrested in September and extradited to El Paso County in October.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 13, Pichardo pleaded guilty to 10 counts of felony election forgery and 39 counts of misdemeanor election perjury. He was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and ordered to pay an unspecified amount in court fees and the extradition cost, the 4th Judicial District\u2019s announcement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe integrity of our elections begins long before ballots are ever cast,\u201d El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker said. \u201cThe detection of fraudulent petition signatures by my office demonstrates the effectiveness of the safeguards and verification processes we have in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Leinweber received enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot, the clerk\u2019s office rejected a high percentage of signatures. Roughly 66% of the 3,704 signatures the campaign submitted were not accepted, which Schleiker previously said was about twice the normal rate of invalid signatures.<\/p>\n
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