State grand jury indicts paid petition circulators for submitting fraudulent signatures to get school choice initiative on 2024 ballot

May 13, 2026 (DENVER) — The statewide grand jury indicted two individuals on four counts each for allegedly submitting petitions with forged signatures to get a school choice initiative on the 2024 general election ballot, Attorney General Phil Weiser announced today.

“Petition circulators who submit fraudulent signatures to the state to put a candidate or initiative on the ballot must be held accountable for their unlawful conduct. We are committed to protecting our elections and safeguarding the process for petitioning onto the ballot,” said Attorney General Weiser.

According to the grand jury indictment returned on April 16 (PDF), the charged individuals—Cherell Long of Nevada and Martin Arellano of Texas—were paid circulators employed by Victor’s Canvassing, LLC based in Colorado Springs. The firm was one of three businesses hired by an initiative campaign to circulate petitions to gather the necessary valid signatures to include a school choice state constitutional amendment on the November 2024 ballot. Both defendants appeared before a notary and swore to or affirmed under penalty of perjury that their submitted petitions were valid.

Proponents of the school choice initiative submitted more than 190,000 signatures to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. A vendor for the office conducted an initial review of the submitted petitions and found that 131,000 of the signatures appeared to be valid, which was more than the 124,238 needed to be placed on the ballot. The measure appeared on the November 2024 general election ballot as Amendment 80.

The secretary of state’s office conducted an internal post-review of the petitions and had concerns about some of the petition signatures. Several signatures did not match signatures in voter files. Also, there were signatures of deceased voters and voters whose registrations were canceled because they moved out of the state, according to the indictment. An investigation by the attorney general’s office determined that petitions collected by Ms. Long and Mr. Arellano included signatures of deceased voters and voters who moved out of Colorado prior to the circulation of the petitions. The number of fraudulent signatures discovered during the investigation would not have disqualified Amendment 80 from the ballot.

Both defendants are charged with one count each of attempt to influence a public servant, a class 4 felony; elections forgery, a class 5 felony; forgery, a class 5 felony, and perjury, a class 2 misdemeanor. The cases are filed in Denver District Court. Arrest warrants are active.

The attorney general’s office is asking that anyone with information about the defendants’ whereabouts to call their local law enforcement agency. Members of the public should not take any action themselves beyond contacting their local law enforcement agency to make the report.

A grand jury indictment is a formal accusation that an individual committed a crime under Colorado laws. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

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Media Contact:
Lawrence Pacheco
Chief Communications Officer
(720) 508-6553 office
lawrence.pacheco@coag.gov