A man who allegedly tampered with a voting machine in Colorado was deemed incompetent that he would not have to stand trial, reports revealed.
The man accused of tampering with the voting machine during a primary in Colorado will not stand trial for the alleged crime he committed.
On November 3, 31-year old Richard Patton was arrested by authorities after he allegedly pulled a USB port out of a voting machine before he threatened election workers.
In an exclusive report published by the Associated Press, it was revealed that “according to his arrest affidavit, Patton showed up to vote in person on the last day of the primary election, June 28. He made some poll workers nervous after asking about what kind of security there was at the voting center because of threats that had been made against election workers. An election worker escorted Patton to a voting machine, showed him how to use it, and he was able to use it to fill out a ballot and print out a marked paper ballot to cast, investigators said.”
“After Patton voted, a person who went to clean the voting machine discovered an error message saying that a USB device had been detected, according to the affidavit. Other election workers said the security seal on the machine was either damaged or had been tampered with and a USB port pulled out,” AP News added.
Reports revealed that Judge William Alexander ordered on Thursday that the accused should undergo outpatient mental health treatment. After being evaluated by a mental health professional, he was deemed to be mentally incompetent.
However, the case will resume at a later date if Patton is found competent to stand trial.
This comes as the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office enacted a new law recently that made tampering with a voting machine a Class 5 felony which is punishable by a one- to two-year jail sentence and/or a fine between $1,000 and $100,000.
According to the Pueblo Chieftain, Patton claimed that he was innocent. He also alleged that the election worker was the one who tampered with the machine and not him.
“I raised my hand and I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m dyslexic. Can you please help me? I can’t read well, I really need help. She’s like, ‘I can’t help you read, but I can help you get this thing.’ Because I pointed to … the voting machine and I’m like, ‘Ma’am, I pressed the screen as you told me to do, and this red box came up. I don’t know what this is. I’m dyslexic. Can you please help me?’” Patton reportedly said.
In an interview with the newspaper, Patton alleged that the election worker told him she was “here to help.” He also alleged that the worker then pulled “something out of her pocket and then inserts it into the machine and then messes with the sticker” and that he did not realize there was a problem until the Pueblo Police SWAT unit knocked down his door.
“This is demonstrably false because I’m a jock. I’m basic. I like to weightlift. I don’t know anything about coding and I don’t intend to because, frankly, it’s pretty boring,” Patton alleged.
