Colorado secretary of state sending election observer to Pueblo following ballot errors

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is sending an election observer to Pueblo County for the primary election after a series of reported errors with ballots, a representative from Griswold's office told The Chieftain Tuesday evening.

"Secretary of State Griswold informed (Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert 'Bo' Ortiz) last week that she would be exercising supervisory authority in sending an observer to Pueblo for the remainder of the 2022 primary election," the statement read. "The Department of State is working with Clerk Ortiz’s office to ensure that Pueblo county voters have safe, secure and accessible elections."

Ortiz said Tuesday evening that Griswold, a Democrat, appointing the election observer in Pueblo is different from her appointing someone in Mesa and Elbert counties after reports of compromised election security emerged regarding their Republican county clerks.

"We look forward to having another election expert in our office who can help out with Pueblo elections and all the challenges that we currently are facing, not only with errors made in the office but with mis- and disinformation that those errors have created," Ortiz said.

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He said that he heard about the appointed election observer after 5 p.m. on Friday and alerted his staff and Republican election observers after the weekend.

Ortiz, a Democrat, had pushed back earlier in the day against the Colorado Republican Party after its top official asked Griswold to take action against him.

“The comments … are factually untrue, politically motivated and an attempt to distract from the alleged criminal acts committed by other Colorado County clerks," a statement from Ortiz's office said. "These clerks were replaced in their duties for violating state law, which (Ortiz) has not done."

Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown called for Griswold to appoint an election supervisor and designate a new election official in Pueblo County. The secretary of state has appointed election observers in Mesa and Elbert counties within the past year after evidence surfaced that election security had been compromised.

Burton Brown publicly said Tuesday morning that Griswold needs to “stop protecting her fellow Democrat" and replace Ortiz with a new designated election official.

“With only seven days to go in this primary election, it’s time for someone competent to be appointed in Pueblo,” she said.

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Some Pueblo County voters have received incorrect primary ballots. The release from Ortiz's office said that the errors have affected “less than 1%” of the electorate.

The Chieftain previously reported that more than 70,000 ballots for the June 28 primary election were reprinted after staffers erroneously did not include the District 3 county commissioner’s race. Two Democrats are running, but the Republican candidate is unopposed in the primary.

Ortiz told the Chieftain earlier this month that 247 voters, all in the military or living overseas, were mailed the wrong ballot. A press release posted on the Pueblo Votes Facebook page Friday said that an error with the printing vendor led to approximately 1,600 incorrect ballots sent out.

All of the voters who received incorrect ballots were mailed new versions.

Chieftain news partner KRDO also reported last week that “more than a dozen” Pueblo voters received ballots with the incorrect house district, which Ortiz confirmed.

Griswold has appointed new election supervisors and filed multiple lawsuits to remove embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters as the designated election official since August 2021, when evidence surfaced that Peters allegedly compromised the security of election equipment.

Peters has been indicted by a grand jury on multiple felony counts related to the election breaches and is running for the GOP nomination for secretary of state.

In Elbert County, Griswold appointed an election administrator for the 2022 primary election after Clerk Dallas Schroeder made unauthorized copies of voting records.

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Anna Lynn Winfrey can be reached by email at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter @annalynnfrey.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Colorado secretary of state sending election observer to Pueblo County