Colorado Springs mayoral candidate 'Tig' Tiegen certified for ballot -- despite reports of residency dispute

Jan. 31—A former CIA security contractor running for Colorado Springs mayor needs to solidify his residency after moving to town last February but will appear on the April 4 ballot despite questions he publicized about possibly getting disqualified.

City officials said Tuesday they never told the candidate, John "Tig" Tiegen, they would remove his name from the ballot.

"I got an email Friday saying I lied under oath, that I don't qualify to be on the ballot," Tiegen said in a video posted Monday morning to his Twitter page. "... (I've) pretty much got to prove that I lived in the city of Colorado Springs. So they're trying to kick me off the ballot, but we'll kind of see what happens."

An email to Tiegen's campaign, sent Friday morning by City Clerk Sarah Johnson and obtained by The Gazette, said her office "received information that (Tiegen) will not meet the one year residency requirement" and asked him to "provide an explanation and any documents" to show he will have lived in the city for the required one year prior to the election.

City spokeswoman Jen Schreuder said Tuesday the Clerk's Office verifies candidate addresses through voter registration records. Through that process, Johnson determined Tiegen registered to vote in Colorado Springs less than one year prior to the upcoming election. That itself is not disqualifying, Schreuder said, but coupled with concerns Johnson had received from an unnamed resident and unnamed media outlet about Tiegen's residency, Johnson sought to further verify it.

"While we are requesting that documentation, that is not necessary for the candidacy," Schreuder said.

Ultimately, she said, Tiegen met the requirements to appear on the ballot when he submitted to the city, among other necessary documents, a signed and notarized affidavit affirming his residency. He was not going to be removed from the ballot, she said.

If Tiegen would eventually win the mayoral seat, he would then have to provide proof of residency to hold office if he had not already done so, she said.

Tiegen said Tuesday he had established a permanent residency in Colorado Springs in February 2022. He lived in different areas of the city until he moved into an apartment in mid-August, he said.

He must still submit "one more written statement" to the city showing where he was living between June 1 and Aug. 17, "but everything else has been verified," Tiegen said.

He was out of town for most of June and July, he said, because he was traveling for work.

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Before February of last year, Tiegen said, he had lived for several years in Pueblo, where he still owns a home. After a divorce, he moved to Colorado Springs.

El Paso County and state voting registration records show Tiegen registered to vote in El Paso County on Jan. 13. Prior to that, he was registered to vote in Pueblo County, documents show. Tiegen voted in Pueblo County in the Nov. 8 general election, which could have broken voter laws.

Tiegen said he believed he had updated his voter registration in October in order to vote in El Paso County. When he called the El Paso County Clerk's Office on Nov. 8 to determine where he could vote, Tiegen said he found out he wasn't registered in El Paso County and was advised to vote in Pueblo County, where he was registered.

"So that's what I did," the former Marine said.

According to Colorado law, a person must have a residence in order to register to vote, and voters may not have more than one residence.

A person's residence is considered "the principal or primary home or place of abode of a person," or "that home or place in which a person's habitation is fixed and to which that person, whenever absent, has the present intention of returning after a departure or absence, regardless of the duration of the absence," according to state election laws.

"... Being in the military, traveling, doing absentee ballots all the time, I honestly didn't think twice about it," Tiegen said.

A person who "knowingly gives false information" regarding their current residence "commits a class 6 felony," according to state election law.

Angie Leath, El Paso County's director of elections, said voters can update their registration information up until 7 p.m. on Election Day.

Tiegen said Tuesday he was preparing to outline his plans for the city during his official campaign launch event Thursday night at DCF Guns West, off Garden of the Gods Road.

While he wasn't ready to share specifics, which he said would come later this week, Tiegen said his campaign focus is on giving control to the people.

"Right now, the biggest thing, I'm going to say, is taking control away from the government and giving it back to the people," he said. "... What our government has been doing to us and how much control they have over us, it's not good. ... Accountability needs to be forefront."

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