A CBS affiliate’s evidence of voter fraud in Colorado has sparked an immediate investigation by Secretary of State Wayne Williams.

Election sleuthing by Brian Maass of KCNC-TV in Denver exposed multiple instances in recent years where dead Coloradans were still voting. A dead World War II veteran named John Grosso voted in a 2006 primary election, and a woman named Sara Sosa who died in 2009 cast ballots in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Mrs. Sosa’s husband Miguel died in 2008, but a vote was cast in his name one year later.

“This is the kind of thing you hear rumored, joked about in Chicago, that kind of thing,” Mr. Maasssaid during a Thursday evening broadcast. “Tonight, that changes. We did find voter fraud in Colorado that essentially waters down your vote.”

At one point Mr. Maass‘ investigation led him to the Colorado Springs home of Sarilu Sosa-Sanchez, the daughter of Mrs. Sosa. The reporter received the cold shoulder when he asked the homeowner about her mother’s “voting” record.

“Go talk to someone else,” the woman said. “I don’t have to clear anything up. I don’t know what that has to do with me.”

The son of Mr. Grosso, John, was much more willing to talk.

“I think that’s a disgrace,” he told the station. “The man is dead. He can’t vote. Somebody is cheating.”

Administrators with the Secretary of State’s Office said the veteran’s vote may have been the result of an election judge’s error, but the station said that still didn’t explain why “dozens of others were still listed as active voters months and sometimes years after their deaths.”

“Does this show the system is rife for fraud?” Mr. Maass asked the secretary of state.

“It shows that there is the potential for fraud,” Mr. Williams responded.

The CBS affiliate noted that voter fraud is important because often times a race is decided by a slim margin. Colorado’s 7th Congressional district came down to 121 votes out of more than 175,000 that were cast in 2002, the station reported.