FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2021

Blatant Partisanship, incompetence are hallmarks of her tenure

Greenwood Village, Colorado – Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown released the following statement regarding Colorado Republicans’ frustration with Jena Griswold’s blatant partisanship and incompetence:

Statement from Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown: “It’s been clear for some time that Jena Griswold is a partisan hack. What hasn’t been so clear is how far she is willing to go to put her thumb on the scale for Colorado Democrats and their candidates. All Coloradans deserve to have faith that elections are being run in a non-partisan manner. With Jena in charge, partisanship is ruling the day.”

Statement from Arapahoe County GOP Chair and former Deputy Secretary of State, Suzanne Staiert: “Two years ago, they rolled out the red carpet for Democrats to audit the results. This year Jena Griswold and Joan Lopez are working together to deny us the same opportunity.”

Background:

• Secretary Griswold personally declined to choose the extremely close 2021 Aurora Ward 3 race for the Risk Limiting Audit (RLA). In 2019, when Mike Coffman (R) won a close Mayoral race, that race was appropriately chosen for the RLA. When Ruben Medina (D) won the close Ward 3 race, Secretary Griswold declined to choose that race for the RLA, even though that was a race with fewer ballots than the 2019 race. The Secretary of State can and has previously exercised judgment to force races into the RLA.
• In El Paso County, typically a Republican stronghold, Secretary Griswold’s office had a major error with the Election Night Reporting (ENR) system and reported much higher ballots cast than what the El Paso County Clerk had correctly report to the SOS-ENR system. The El Paso County Clerk’s office noticed the error right away and worked to get it fixed. It is still unclear how this error happened at Griswold’s office.
• Throughout the 2021 Election, there have been issues with the Secretary of State’s office regarding the late approval of poll watcher forms. Some counties approved forms from previous cycles because the new forms weren’t released from Griswold’s office until September 17 – weeks after some poll watchers were already appointed by candidates.