An incident was discovered by Pueblo County, Colorado officials during election day. Richard Patton, a poll worker, was charged with a class 5 felony after trying to tamper with a voting machine.
On their Facebook page, the Pueblo Police Department announced the arrest.
According to CBS News, Patton, a Democrat who was working at the polling place, is alleged of inserting a USB drive into a voting machine.
When the Colorado primary elections were being conducted in June, this occurrence took place.
It has been reported that election workers noticed a strange noise. The poll workers immediately reported the error message they encountered when they went to check and clean the device.
Once it was reported, it didn’t take long to identify Patton as the culprit because he was the last person to use that booth.
Authorities were quick to reassure voters that no electoral records had been accessed and that there had been no impact on voting, but the prospect of future breaches of this nature is worrisome.
Patton will be the first person charged under a new Colorado election law that changed interfering with voting machinery from a misdemeanor to a felony, according to The Pueblo Chieftain.
According to the statute, violators may suffer a sentence of one to two years in prison and a fine of $1,000 to $100,000.
After the 2020 election and the uproar it caused, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold outlined the rationale for these tighter restrictions.
“The continued spread of election conspiracies and the Big Lie is fueling threats to American elections, including efforts to interfere with election equipment,” according to Griswold, who spoke to the Chieftain.
Patton was detained at the Pueblo County Judicial Center after being taken into custody by the Pueblo Police Department on Thursday.
Charges of tampering with a voting machine and cybercrimes were brought against Patton upon booking.
Patton, for his part, denies any misbehavior.
An investigation is still on going even though no motive has been found.
