Woodland Park resident found guilty of voter fraud in Nov. 3 General Election

CRIPPLE CREEK • Jan Wilson of Woodland Park was found guilty in Teller County Combined Court last week of voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election.

In the State of Colorado vs. Janis Cummer (Wilson is her married name), Teller County Clerk & Recorder Krystal Brown levied a lawsuit against Wilson after discovering that she had submitted two ballots.

Subpoenaed to appear in Teller County Combined Court Feb. 10, Wilson, 74, pleaded not guilty to the charge of voter fraud. Judge Theresa Kilgore disagreed and along with the conviction, fined Wilson $500 plus court costs.

In Colorado’s all-mail ballot election, Wilson, 74, received a first ballot but then changed her party affiliation and received a second ballot. “She voted twice, and turned them both in,” Brown said, in a report to the Teller County Board of Commissioners at its Feb. 11 meeting. “The woman felt she had done nothing wrong, that it was a mistake to turn in two ballots.”

Brown caught the double vote the night of the election, Nov. 3. “The Duo machine captures the signatures,” Brown said, adding that she halted the vote count to correct the error. “It was time-consuming for the staff.”

In her report, Brown highlighted the divisive nature of the 2020 election. “I think it’s important to talk about this in this place and time,” she said. “We don’t take this lightly, just so everyone knows. Last year the vote was extremely important so we want to make sure people vote only once.”

After the meeting, Brown said she felt the law should be stronger when it comes to handing out fines, or other repercussions involving voter fraud.

Teller County uses the Dominion Voting Systems, which have been targeted by some supporters of former President Donald Trump in his claims of voter fraud around the nation.

Since the election of Joe Biden to the presidency in November, Trump’s supporters, including Republican politicians, have questioned the results, claiming Dominion Voting Systems were fraudulent.

“We used Dominion machines in 2016 when Trump won,” Brown said, implying that there were no questions about the results at the time. “It’s sad.”

Since the November election, Dominion has sued Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, seeking $1.3 billion in damages due to his false claims of voter fraud.

In the case of voter fraud in Teller County, Wilson is a Woodland Park citizen who serves a member of the Downtown Development Authority and Keep Woodland Park Beautiful. She is well-known for her volunteer work around the city.

“The case is ridiculous,” said Wilson, in a Friday phone conversation with The Courier. “You can’t vote two ballots because the second one doesn’t count. It was just a mistake.”

Wilson acknowledges that she did change her party affiliation. “I did it for one reason, so I could support Erik (Stone) and Dan (Williams) for county commissioner,” she said, referring to the Republican candidates for Teller County commissioner, who each won a seat on the board. “It was a mistake to submit two ballots, and I didn’t even give it a thought.”

Wilson added, “If they want to make a big deal out of it, OK,” she said of her conviction.

Wilson was not represented by an attorney and said she does not plan to appeal the judgement.

“Do you think I’m going to pay an attorney $5,000 for a mistake?” she said.