COLORADO SPRINGS — The chair of the Colorado Republican Party said the appointment of an election supervisor in Pueblo County doesn't go far enough to instill voter confidence ahead of Tuesday's primary election.
Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown wants Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, to replace Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert Ortiz for both the primary and the general election.
"People need to have confidence in the results," she said. "I think the clerk in Pueblo has lost that confidence and Jena Griswold should, in fact, replace him."
Burton Brown also criticized Griswold for the appearance of partisanship for how quickly she acted to intervene in Mesa and Elbert Counties where there are Republican clerks when compared to the later intervention in Pueblo County.
"I believe Jena Griswold is a partisan hack who weaponizes her office against Republicans and I'm glad there was enough pressure on her, in this case, to actually do something fair," Burton Brown said.
In a press release issued Tuesday, Ortiz called the GOP criticism of him politically motivated and, "an attempt to distract from the alleged criminal acts committed by other Colorado County Clerks."
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who is running for Secretary of State, was indicted by a grand jury in March on felony and misdemeanor charges related to tampering with voting equipment. Griswold barred Peters from overseeing the upcoming elections following a state investigation.
Elbert County Clerk Dallas Schroeder is accused of copying data from the hard drives of Dominion voting equipment.
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