Tina Peters on Friday claimed that the recount of the Republican secretary of state primary election, which she lost by a wide margin, is an “absolute disaster” in El Paso County.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that Peters submitted $255,912, per state statute, to ensure a recount of the June election, which Peters lost to former Jefferson County Clerk Pam Anderson.
Anderson received 43.06% of the vote to Peters’ 28.86%, and Mike O’Donnell, director of a nonprofit lender, got 28.08%, according to official election results.
Election experts and people across the country followed the race closely after Peters, the Mesa County clerk who was indicted on allegations of election tampering, was accused of making images of voting system software. The passwords were posted online later by a QAnon conspiracy theory leader. Peters subsequently was sued by Griswold to remove her from overseeing the 2021 and 2022 elections.
“The recounts will be conducted in accordance with the law, and will be finished by August 4,” Griswold said Thursday.
Also getting a recount is Lynda Zamora Wilson, who lost the state Senate District 9 race in Colorado Springs.
On Friday evening, Peters, in a news release, said recount voting in El Paso County was an “absolute disaster.”
“Today, the machine tabulated recount ordered by Secretary of State Jena Griswold failed the Logic and Accuracy Test (LAT), with Dominion employees present, in a spectacular fashion with over a 50% error rate out of the 4,000+ ballots tested,” the release said. “These voting machines are unacceptable for use in Colorado elections.”
El Paso County, under Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman, began its LAT at 8 a.m. Friday, according to Peters.
Griswold “did not provide reasonable advance notice of the LAT to the Tina Peters Campaign thereby denying them their right to have … appointed watchers present during the test,” the release said. “Thankfully, due to public outcry and citizen concerns, there were ample witnesses present to watch the utter humiliation of the LAT failure and the over 50% error rate that the LAT revealed.”
The El Paso County elections team conducting the test “informed the participants it would take at least an additional 26 hours to reconcile these disastrous results,” according to Peters.
The secretary of state’s office and the El Paso County clerk could not be reached for comment Friday night.
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