WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Colorado authorities are investigating an incident in which at least 12 mail ballots appear to have been intercepted before reaching voters intended to receive them, according to a statement from the state’s top elections official on Thursday.

The intercepted ballots for the Nov. 5 election were filled out and mailed to the county clerk in Mesa County, in the western part of the state, according to the Colorado secretary of state’s office.

It did not say whether they were marked for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Democrat nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris or some other candidate.

The apparent ballot fraud scheme was discovered after some affected voters received notifications either that their ballots had been processed or needed to be corrected because of a discrepancy with their signature, according to the statement.

Several of the affected voters contacted the county clerk’s office to report the issue. The county district attorney’s office is investigating.

“Colorado’s elections are safe and secure. This attempt at fraud was found and investigated quickly because of all the trailblazing processes and tools Colorado has in place like signature verification, ballot tracking and the curing process,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in the statement.

Trump and his allies have consistently spread unfounded claims that mail ballots are vulnerable to fraud. Ahead of this election, he has urged supporters to cast ballots early if they chose, but has continued to suggest that mail ballots are untrustworthy.

A former Mesa County clerk early this month was sentenced to nine years in prison for illegally tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election.

Harris is expected to easily win Colorado in the Nov. 5 election, according to the three main U.S. nonpartisan election ratings services.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Marguerita Choy)

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