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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums**Breaking** Mesa County's Tina Peters can't participate in November election, CO judge rules
Mesa Countys Tina Peters cant participate in November election, judge rules
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/10/13/tina-peters-mesa-county-elections-griswold/
Former Republican secretary of state will oversee county elections this year
Mesa County's top election administrator, the embattled Republican Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, cannot be involved in the administration of her county's November election, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Mesa Countys top election administrator, the embattled Republican Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters, cannot be involved in the administration of her countys November election, a judge ruled Wednesday.
District Court Judge Valerie J. Robison sided with the Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who in late August filed a lawsuit seeking to block Peters and Deputy Clerk and Recorder Belinda Knisley from handling the next election.
That lawsuit met the burden of showing that Peters and Knisley have committed a breach and neglect of duty and other wrongful acts. As such, Peters and Knisley are unable or unwilling to appropriately perform the duties of the Mesa County Designated Election Official, the judge wrote in a 22-page ruling.
This means that former Republican Secretary of State Wayne Williams will oversee Mesa County elections this year. He was appointed by Griswold, his 2018 election opponent.
Peters, who has prominently and baselessly claimed that the 2020 election was stolen, has been under scrutiny for allegedly letting an unauthorized man access a secure area at the county election office on May 25, during an update to Dominion Voting software. Passwords from that update later circulated online.
Peters has spent much of her time since then out of state, though she has since returned to Colorado. Fellow Republican elected officials in Mesa County blasted her as negligent and inaccessible during her absence.
Criminal investigations at the local, state and federal levels are underway.
underpants
(182,736 posts)Well I learned something today
hlthe2b
(102,200 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,123 posts)Could describe a lot of malfeasance. And why allow such to perform official duties, or put miscreants in office or back into office. Catch my drift?
monkeyman1
(5,109 posts)COL Mustard
(5,896 posts)Et cetera, yada yada yada.
I'm glad there are starting to be SOME consequences for TFG's acolytes.
h2ebits
(643 posts)Too bad that the Denver Post tried to politicize this issue with the Democrat/Republican designations. I expect that Peters and Knisley will eventually get criminal charges of some sort thrown at them and land in jail. Colorado has an excellent election system and it appears that Peters was in cahoots with Mike Lindell to speak at his South Dakota rally to "prove" that there was voter fraud. We make every effort--regardless of affiliation--to conduct fair and non-partisan elections; including an overwhelming yes vote by all of us to have an independent commission determine allocation of votes by jurisdiction to help eliminate gerrymandering. As a former Secretary of State, Wayne Williams is the perfect person with experience to run the upcoming election in Mesa County.
NEWS RELEASE:
colorado secretary of state
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Annie Orloff
Annie.Orloff@ColoradoSOS.gov
Steve Hurlbert
Steve.Hurlbert@ColoradoSOS.gov
October 13, 2021
Mesa County Court Judge Rules in Favor of Removing Peters as Designated Election Official
DENVER, Colo Today, a Mesa County Court Judge ruled in favor of removing Tina Peters as the Designated Election Official (DEO) and has granted the Secretary of States requests that Wayne Williams be appointed as the DEO and Sheila Reiner be appointed as the election supervisor for Mesa County.
A Designated Election Official is a person responsible for running elections for a local government, like a municipality or a county. They make determinations regarding elections issues for their municipality or county. The Courts decision legally bars Peters from serving as DEO, after she allowed breaches to election security, disregarded election rules and orders of the Secretary of State, and risked the integrity of Mesa county elections.
Clerk Peters seriously compromised the security of Mesa Countys voting system. The Courts decision today bars Peters from further threatening the integrity of Mesas elections and ensures Mesa County residents have the secure and accessible election they deserve, said Secretary Jena Griswold. As Secretary of State, I will continue to provide the support and oversight needed to ensure the integrity of Colorados elections.
Although the Secretary of States Office can require supervision of a county clerks conduct, this legal action was necessary to ensure the removal of a sitting county clerk from acting as the Designated Election Official.
hlthe2b
(102,200 posts)h2ebits
(643 posts)stopdiggin
(11,292 posts)that 99.9% of the elections (and the people overseeing them) are conscientious good faith efforts that strive mightily to deliver a fair and honest result to the electorate. Allowing the narrative to veer away from that fundamental democratic assurance and trust - is a serious and harmful mistake.
This county clerk is a nutjob - and the system is in the process of weeding her out. Well done.
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Wingus Dingus
(8,052 posts)while he's out on bail and waiting for his trial.
MrModerate
(9,753 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Federal bench appointments matter. Need to crank up the judge mill!
Scarlet Begalas
(25 posts)Reminds me of Katherine Harris, the Secy of State in FL during the 2000 election.
RVN VET71
(2,690 posts)I cant use it here for fear of being suspended or put in the bad-boy penalty box. But it was a reference to any woman who sought to project, umm, pseudo-Playmate qualities in public places. It was a 3 word phrase, the first 2 of which were Susan Sloppy . . . and the last of which was a reference to the female upper body area. Not exactly teats. The word like that but with a shorter vowel between the ts.
Mom was earthy, honest, and didnt truck with fools and hypocrites, god bless her.
Harris it was who found time to engage in canoodling with Republican Representative Renzi (AZ?) on CSPAN back in 2004 while seated beside him in a nearly empty House Chamber, nudging and what looked at one point like tickling him and laughing like a hooker on coke. (You can look it up.) She also helped give Florida to Bush with the tragic results of which we are all too painfully aware.
Without Harriss dubious machinations in the 2000 presidential election, Gore would likely have carried the state of Florida and won the election. Without Bush, there would have been no invasion (and destruction) of Iraq nor any of the apocalyptic events issuing from that horrible debacle.
So at least part of the mess we are in today as a nation (and a species) can be traced back to the willful act of an honest to god Republican bimbo to fix an election.