Colorado County Clerks Association vow to defend democracy against election deniers
Boulder Daily Camera
Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick wants Colorado voters to know that thousands of dead people did not vote in the 2020 election.
This rumor was one of several that Fitzpatrick and other Colorado county clerks refuted during a news conference hosted by the Colorado County Clerks association on Sunday outside the Denver Elections Division in Denver, where Republican, Democratic and unaffiliated clerks gathered to address allegations of election fraud put forth by election deniers and conspiracy theorists.
In the past two years, election conspiracists have targeted Colorado clerks, citing fraud and security issues within Colorado’s election systems. Some of these false claims have ranged from accusations that China hacked Colorado’s voter registration database to reports claiming that Colorado’s voting systems are not properly certified.
Fitzpatrick sought to set the record straight.
“Unfortunately, over the last several months, there have been claims from election deniers that purport to prove fraudulent elections in Colorado,” Fitzpatrick said. “These claims are often lengthy, and they’re often full of jargon, and they do not provide proof or data. They consistently demonstrate a lack of understanding of our process.
“This is a pivotal moment, and these disproven conspiracies are intended to move us towards an election model that is less secure, less accurate, and less accessible,” she said.
Together, the group of county election officials, who also included Weld County Clerk Carly Koppes and La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee, challenged election deniers and conspiracy theorists to prove their claims by providing “clear and compelling” evidence to law enforcement officials or Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
To increase election security and election transparency, the County Clerk’s Association is hoping to employ a four-point list that aims to prevent future accusations of election fraud. These measures, according to Koppes, will include providing ballot images online for free so the public can look at the cast vote record, increasing signature verification audit processes to make them more consistent across the state, and making sure that elections stay properly funded.
La Plata County Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee emphasized the importance of standing up to these rumors.
“We have taken the unprecedented step to gather today as each of our county’s chief election officials because we can no longer stand by while a small group of well-funded conspiracy theorists prepare to gather on our Capitol steps to further share their half truths and lies,” Lee said.
Koppes added that rumors and accusations of election fraud are dangerous to the democratic process.
“We have a living, breathing government and every person’s access to that living, breathing government is the ballot. When you’re having questions about it and you’re having people not wanting to cast that ballot, that decreases the involvement in our government that we have,” Koppes said.
“That is why it is so vitally important for us to stand here today and make these demands of these people, to have them understand that your voter suppression is not going to keep going on here in Colorado. We are here to stand up for it, because we want to make sure that the greatest equalizer that every person in Colorado has – the ballot – is kept sacred, and we keep fighting for it.”