DENVER — Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State, was in constant motion Tuesday night as her eyes waited for the primary election results.
Griswold, unopposed in the Democratic Party’s renomination election, walked through her downtown office building and checked in with her Rapid Response Election Security Cyber Unit. This group was created in 2020 to combat election misinformation. She met her cybersecurity team, which included members of her information technology group and temporary Air National Guards computer scientists. She watched as the Republican secretary-of-state primary results came in quickly — a benefit to the state’s vote by-mail system, in which votes that have been processed are immediately tabulated after the state closes.
Tina Peters is a local election official who was indicted for directing a breach of voting machines. This is exactly the kind of “insider threat to election security” that Griswold spent many years trying to prevent.
Pam Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk, was projected as the winner within an hour of polls closing. Peters claimed that fraud was the reason for Anderson’s third-place finish almost immediately after polls closed.
NBC News later heard from Griswold that Peters’ claims had led to him claiming that the state’s elections were “safe and secure” and that there is bipartisan oversight of the entire process.
“Peters’ continued spreading of election lies is not surprising,” she stated, adding that candidates should accept and respect the results of a free and fair election.
These kinds of false claims have been the focus of Griswold’s work over the past four years. Tuesday’s interview with her stated that the Jan. 6 hearings of the committee and the New Mexico situation last month where Republican officials refused certify an election were examples of “insider threats to elections” as a result unfounded conspiracy or misinformation.
“The exact actions they described in the January 6 hearings, which led to a failed theft of the presidency, have continued.” She stated that the January 6 coup had not been stopped. “Attempts to undermine American democracy have not stopped.”
Experts credit Colorado as having one of the most secure and reliable voting systems in the country.
Its universal vote-by mail and automatic voter registration include many safeguards such as multiple ballot signature verification processes, and risk-limiting audits.
Griswold has fought for legislation in all four years of her term. It grants her office the power of certifying elections if local officials refuse; punishes local officials for wrongdoing; strengthens existing laws against voter intimidation; protects election workers in the state.
However, Colorado is still at the forefront for misinformation and sabotage attempts by election deniers and other evil actors. Since the July 1st Justice Department meeting, more than 500 threats have been made against election workers by the state. This was in response to Jan. 6’s attack on the Capitol. Griswold, along with Peters, has been subject to numerous “insider threats” to election security from state officials. Griswold claims she has received numerous threats including death threats and is under the protection both of government-provided security and private security since months.
This has led officials such as Griswold and county clerks across the state to use unique and sometimes unprecedented measures.
2020 saw Griswold create her cybersecurity team to monitor and alert officials and voters to election fraud. This was one of the most important efforts of its kind. She has asked election officials in the state to implement physical safety measures, including active shooter drills as well as bulletproof glass.
In the current political climate, it may not be enough.
“I don’t think there is a magic bullet that can convince everyone of the legitimacy of elections. One reason is that the incentives surrounding the ‘Big Lie’ are so important in certain respects that it becomes difficult, so to speak, to find your own way out of it,” David Levine, an election expert at the nonpartisan Alliance for Securing Democracy said. He was referring to the false claims made by Donald Trump and his associates that the 2020 election was stolen from them and that there are many fraudsters in American elections.
Levine said that there is a possibility of a “restoration of sorts” in regards to faith in elections. He suggested that such outcomes can come from investment in systems, processes, people and “robust voter education initiatives”, which he pointed out were essential parts of Colorado’s model.
Griswold is the chair of Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. He said that Colorado’s system does so little to bolster security or trust, which shows how much merit election deniers make. “The threats are destabilizing, and the misinformation is destabilizing.”
“You make election workers afraid and quit. She said that insider threats and radicalization can lead to security breaches.
According to a nonpartisan group, at least 73 Republican candidates falsely claiming that Trump won the 2020 election are still running for secretary of state, attorney General, and governor elections — offices that oversee and administer, defend, and certify election results and election results — in contests throughout the U.S.
The state Legislature is controlled by Democrats. It passed the legislation in response to these threats. A GOP county commission refused certification of primary election results due to concerns about voting machines that were based on false information. Commissioners protested Dominion Voting Systems’ use, propagating conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. However, there was no evidence that any issues with the voting process occurred in the last month’s election. (The state Supreme Court ordered that the officials vote to certify the primary election results a few days later.
According to Maggie Toulouse Oliver (New Mexico’s Democratic secretary-of-state), it’s the type of crisis that began with rumblings, rhetoric, but quickly grew with the help from Trump allies. She is running for re-election like Griswold and faces increasing threats as a result of her efforts to keep elections free, secure, and free from interference.
Toulouse Oliver stated that rumors like these usually die quickly. But this is a completely new beast.
All was well on the first night in Colorado.
As trained election judges were assembled in bipartisan groups, a reporter watched over a Jefferson County vote center. They carefully oversee the machine-run processes for opening and counting ballots and verifying signatures. These trained judges were there to help resolve issues that aren’t often encountered — such as signatures that don’t match the ones on file or voters who have returned primary ballots to both major parties. The surveillance video of all ballot drop boxes was carefully monitored.
It was a smooth day, which is not unusual for a low-turnout primary. The only issues were a Covid violation by an election judge and a water shortage in the Elections Division building.
Griswold said that this would not stop some people from claiming fraud.
