In light of “insider threats” such as those allegedly committed by indicted Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, Colorado’s top election official wants to mandate increased security and training for people running local elections, as well as increase penalties for people who break election law.
Among other things, Senate Bill 153 would require electronic key cards, with their uses logged, to access voting systems and 24-hour video surveillance of the site. It also bars people from overseeing elections if they’ve been convicted of election-related offenses, sedition or insurrection.
The officials also can’t “knowingly or recklessly” promote misinformation or disinformation, a distinction bill sponsor Senate President Stephen Fenberg said would be up to the courts to sort.
“I don’t think we were thinking about insider threats before Mesa,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said at a news conference Monday to debut the bill, referring to allegations against Peters. “We have lots of safeguards, but the idea that someone elected to uphold elections would try to destroy from within was shocking to the election community in Colorado.”
Griswold, like Fenberg, is a Democrat.
Colorado has “gold standard” elections as is, she argued, citing high turnout and security, but that the bill is necessary to combat emerging efforts to undermine confidence in the system.
The bill would require election officials to get training in testing voting systems, risk-limiting audits of the systems and election security, including how to combat misinformation and disinformation.
The proposal also includes $500,000 in grant dollars to help local election officials improve their security systems.
Pueblo County Clerk Bo Ortiz, who also serves as the president of the Colorado County Clerks Association, called the bill the most important elections-related policy push since voters approved mail-in voting in 2013.
“Recognizing that low-information election officials make for easier targets for grifters and bad actors, we fully support for them to receive their state election certification before they run a major election,” Ortiz, a Democrat, said.
The association largely supports the initiative, Executive Director Matt Crane said. About 50 county clerks, across party lines, were on a call Monday to discuss the measure and all of them supported it, he said. There are 64 county clerks in the state.
Josh Bly, a spokesperson for the Colorado Senate GOP, said senators in his caucus are watching the bill, but didn’t comment on its merits.
“We sincerely hope the opportunity for bipartisan collaboration presents itself when the bill is considered,” he said in a statement.
It is up for debate at a Senate committee Tuesday, along with another Democratic proposal to ban the open carry of firearms at polling places. The committee is its first step through the legislative process.
County clerks throughout Colorado have been targeted by conspiracy theorists concerned about the election, and Griswold’s office keeps a running list of threats she’s received.
Her office, along with law enforcement, investigated Peters over allegations that the clerk and her deputy allowed an unauthorized man access to copy voting equipment servers. Passwords from the equipment were later posted in online QAnon circles.
Griswold has sued Peters and later Elbert County Clerk Dallas Schroeder over allegations of making unauthorized copies of election servers. An investigation into the actions of a third county clerk, Merlin Klotz of Douglas County, cleared him.
