Power

Former Colorado GOP Official Faces Prison Time on Voter Fraud Charge

A former Colorado Republican Party chairman who’s said people should be punished for having abortion care allegedly cast his ex-wife's vote in the 2016 election.

Steve Curtis faces four-and-a-half years of incarceration stemming from the forgery and voter fraud charges. Gino Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com

A talk-radio host and former Colorado Republican Party chairman, who once said anti-abortion legislation shouldn’t let “the woman off the hook,” was charged Tuesday with voter fraud and forgery.

Steve Curtis has been the subject of national media coverage after KDVR-TV in Denver reported Tuesday that he’d been charged with illegally casting the 2016 ballot of his ex-wife, Kelly Curtis, who lives in South Carolina.

Kelly Curtis told KDVR she was “livid” about the situation, saying her ex-husband’s actions were “demeaning and presumptuous.”

Steve Curtis faces four-and-a-half years of incarceration stemming from the forgery and voter fraud charges.

The conservative radio host covers a range of political topics on his morning show, including election fraud, which, he said last year is mostly committed by Democrats.

“It seems to me, and correct me if I’m wrong, that virtually every case of voter fraud I can remember in my lifetime was committed by Democrats,” Curtis said on air, according to the Colorado Statesman. “Am I on to something here, or do I just not have the facts?”

In fact, voter fraud is virtually nonexistent in the United States, despite allegations from President Trump and others that such widespread fraud is a problem in need of a solution.

Abortion rights are another target on Curtis’ show.

“I get real sketchy when it comes to this idea, in any piece of legislation, of what I would call ‘letting the woman off the hook,’ said KLZ 560-AM radio host Steve Curtis (@21:10) during a show last year. “Because I believe she knows. I believe that there’s no way. We’re half way through 2016. We’ve got YouTube videos galore, and have had for years, where people can see a baby in the womb as early as just a few days in some instances but certainly within a few weeks. And it starts to take that human shape …. I know. So why don’t women know?”

Curtis’ comments about abortion reflect those once articulated by Trump, who told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews last March that people who seek abortion care should get “some form of punishment.” Trump took back the statement within hours, saying medical professionals should be held responsible.

Curtis made his own comments about punishment for abortion in a May 2016 show, during which he said (@15:10) he’d “love to see abortion ended, period, no exceptions, no further discussion needed about it.”

Kelly Curtis triggered the investigation into the alleged voter fraud when she asked the Weld County elections office about how she could vote in November after she’d left Colorado, according to KDVR. Election officials concluded that her ballot had been mailed from Steve Curtis’ home town of Firestone and her signature had been forged.

Confronted by KDVR, Curtis refused to answer questions about the allegations against him, but he resigned Tuesday from his radio host job.