Opinion: As Republicans who have run Colorado elections, we decry GOP support of Tina Peters

It’s with great dismay that we read the Colorado Republican Party leadership’s recent call to all Colorado Republicans to support disgraced former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. As current and former Republican election officials in Colorado, your decision to support an individual who has actively worked to undermine our elections statewide is a slap in the face and an affront to each of us who have worked to become experts in election administration and to build and sustain secure elections in Colorado over many decades.

Tina Peters now faces criminal charges in Mesa County in an upcoming trial. She is charged with criminal impersonation, identity theft, and attempting to influence a public officer. She claims to have committed these acts because she believed she was proving election fraud.

To be clear, there was no fraud in Mesa County elections. She led a willful breach of her voting system. Peters did not uncover any fraud or threats to Mesa County elections. In the end, she herself was the threat to election integrity in the county. Her actions made elections less secure and more susceptible to nefarious activity.

She has since embarked on a national campaign to discredit our elections processes, the same processes she never bothered to understand when she served as a county clerk. She has also attempted to raise money and has become quite famous while trying to deflect blame, putting her former staff and others in harm’s way.

As former and current Republican election officials, we have dedicated much time to understanding federal and state election laws and becoming experts in election processes. We have and will successfully run hundreds of elections at the local, county and state levels; and, in fact, correctly carried out the elections that put many of the current Colorado state Republican Party leaders in office. Facts matter in this and every debate.

There have been many years of imaginative accusations, with no basis in truth and using Tina Peters as the poster child. It is an affront to honest election administrators across the nation and especially in Colorado.

We expect better from the leadership of the Colorado Republican Party, a party in which we have served loyally for years. We are dedicated public servants who take our sacred responsibility and sworn oaths with absolute seriousness. We know many of you at the county and precinct level know the truth and support the work honest election administrators do. We thank you for your continued support and commitment to the truth.

We want to state unequivocally that Tina Peters is not a hero. She is a sadly misguided individual who did not uphold her oath of office and her obligations to the community she served. We ask our fellow Colorado Republican Party members to support your local Republican clerk and recorders, who administer, with integrity, an election system that serves our Constitution and every Coloradan casting a ballot.

Mary Estill Buchanan, former secretary of state

Mike Coffman, Aurora mayor and former Colorado secretary of state

Donetta Davidson, former secretary of state, and former Arapahoe and Bent County clerk

Gigi Dennis, former secretary of state

Wayne Williams, former secretary of state and former El Paso County clerk and recorder

Pam Anderson, former Jefferson County clerk and recorder

Karrie Apple, Las Animas County clerk and recorder

Kristy Archuleta, Archuleta County clerk and recorder

Chuck Broerman, former El Paso County clerk and recorder

Kelley Camper, Custer County clerk and recorder

Brenda Corbett, Clear Creek County clerk and recorder

Matt Crane, former Arapahoe County clerk and recorder

Sheri Davis, Douglas County clerk and recorder

Scott Doyle, former Larimer County clerk and recorder

Nancy Doty, former Arapahoe County clerk and recorder

Justin Grantham, Fremont County clerk and recorder

Debra Green, former Park County clerk and recorder

Hayle Johnson, Jackson County clerk and recorder

Carly Koppes, Weld County clerk and recorder

Carole Murray, former Colorado state representative and former Douglas County clerk and recorder

Angela Myers, former Larimer County clerk and recorder

Pam Phipps, former Clear Creek County clerk and recorder

Stan Martin, former Adams County clerk and recorder

Steve Moreno, former Weld County clerk and recorder

Tammy Raschke, former Moffat County clerk and recorder

Sheila Reiner, former Mesa County clerk and recorder

Janice Rich, Colorado state senator and former Mesa County clerk and recorder

Sara Rosene, former Grand County clerk and recorder

Steve Schlieker, El Paso County clerk and recorder

Lyn Scott, Otero County clerk and recorder

Teri Stephenson, Delta County clerk and recorder

Kevin Strauch, Morgan County clerk and recorder

Garland Wahl, former Washington County clerk and recorder

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