Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters and a Republican legislative candidate who asked for a recount of their June 28 primary election results have submitted certified funds the Secretary of State's Office required to proceed.
Peters submitted $255,912.33 for the statewide recount of her 14.2 percentage point loss to former Jeffco Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson for the Secretary of State's race.
Meanwhile, Lynda Zamora Wilson, who lost the primary bid for the Senate District 9 seat to Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument, submitted $20,819.87 for a recount of that race.
Both met Thursday's deadline to submit the certified funds.
While all the candidates requested hand recounts, the Secretary of State's office repeatedly pointed to election rules dating back a decade that allow for recounts based solely on the manner of the original count, which were all done by machine tabulation.
An automatic state-paid recount is triggered when the difference between the winning candidate and second-place candidate is 0.05% or less of the winning vote. None of the candidates seeking recounts came close to that margin, which means they will have to pay for those recounts.
Peters has maintained that vulnerabilities were found in Dominion Voting Systems equipment, although a federal advisory said none had been detected.
The Secretary of State's election division refuted Peters' claims. In a July 19 letter, elections division chief Judd Choate told Peters the Dominion system referenced in a federal advisory she cited is not in use in Colorado.
Peters also asked for other records and materials tied to the June 28 primary, including "Cast Vote Records," ballot drop box records; all video surveillance, to include drop box, sorting and counting, adjudication and tabulation rooms; records on signature verification; voter registration and history; ballot envelopes; and, electronic voting system logs. All but the voter registration data is available just from county clerk offices, not from the Secretary of State's office.
state Rep. Ron Hanks of Cañon City also requested those same records, but he did not submit the $256,172.33 it would cost for a recount of his 8.92 percentage point loss to Joe O'Dea for the GOP race for U.S. Senate. The slightly higher cost for the statewide recount is due to more ballots being cast for that race than for the GOP Secretary of State primary, according to the Secretary of State's office.
Peters and Hanks initially submitted requests for recounts on July 14, and were told those recounts would cost $236,179 each. Neither submitted the certified funds by a July 17 deadline.
The higher cost for the latest request results from county clerk offices starting those recounts on Friday in order to meet an August 4 statutory deadline.
"This may require work to be done over the weekend in addition to bringing in additional support to process a large number of ballots in a shorter amount of time," the Secretary of State's Office said.
Zamora Wilson, one of three El Paso County GOP candidates seeking a recount, also turned in enough funds for a recount of her legislative race.
However, Karl Dent failed to submit certified funds for a recount of the House District 21 primary he lost to Rep. Mary Bradfield. Summer Groubert, who lost the House District 18 primary to Shana Black, also failed to submit the $21,594.85 for a recount.
The Secretary of State's office said Thursday that once the recounts begin, counties will work with their bipartisan canvass boards to complete a logic and accuracy test (LAT) on the required tabulation equipment. Following LAT tests, the counties will begin rescanning all ballots for the Statewide Republican Primary race for Secretary of State, and El Paso will also rescan ballots for the District 9 State Senate Republican Primary race.
In El Paso County, two candidates for county offices submitted $$10,400 each for recounts of their races. Rae Ann Weber, who lost the primary for county coroner by 31 percentage points and Peter Lupia, who lost the primary for clerk and recorder by 28.86 percentage points, both submitted funds for their machine recounts on Thursday.
In a statement, El Paso Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman said the requests are "their right as a candidate."
"Our Elections staff, appointed Canvass Board and Election Judges will conduct the recounts for the candidates, with their skilled expertise and resolve and I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate once again, the great work we do for all citizens in El Paso County,” Broerman said.
No more recount requests can be submitted, as the statutory deadline for those requests was Tuesday.
Tina Peters and four candidates are seeking hand-recounts, but the Secretary of State's office said the recount would be conducted in the same tabulation methods as the original count, which was done by machine.
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