Amy D. Mitchell
Park County Commissioner
District 1
856 Castello Avenue
Fairplay, CO 80440
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November 1, 2022
Ms. Jena Griswold
Colorado Secretary of State
1700 Broadway, Suite 200
Denver, CO 80290
RE: Voter Integrity Concerns – Park County Clerk & Recorder’s Office
Outside Interference by Park County Republican Party Officials
Immediate Call-to-Action Required & Requested
Dear Secretary Griswold:
On October 31, 2022, it came to my attention that we in Park County are facing some egregious infractions pursuant to Colorado Election statutes that we request your immediate action to address. The infractions result from the void left by the September 15th retirement of Clerk and Recorder Debra Green, leadership inexperience of the Deputy Clerk and the complete lack of experience of the interim Clerk and Recorder. Additionally, the Clerk’s Fairplay office is staffed with The Clerk, the Deputy Clerk and only three employees that have been with the County less than 6 weeks.
In mid-October, 2022, PCP, Precinct 9, Joyce Hines reached out to the Clerk’s office to gather information on scheduling Election Judges. She learned that as an Election Judge in the Primary she was not going to serve in the General Election. It was subsequently learned that most of the Election Judges gathered at caucus and who served in the Primary Election would not be allowed to be an election judged for the Mid-Term General Election. It was further learned that the majority of the Republican Election Judges were being sourced and selected by Park County Republican Central Committee (PCRCC) Chair Deb Elsner. The new judges were chosen by a Republican Chair campaigning for a Democrat. They were chosen after the standard County General Election Judge training and were afforded their own training class, which poses additional concerns about what they were taught. This action by Chairwoman Elsner infringes on the state election statute for proper protocol pursuant to section:
- (1 and 3). List furnished by precinct committeepersons.[1]
- No later than ten days after the precinct caucus in even-numbered years, the committeepersons of each precinct from each major political party shall submit to the county chairpersons of their respective political parties a list that was initiated at the precinct caucus and that recommends registered electors as election judges. The registered electors recommended as election judges must reside in the precinct and have a current affiliation with the political party that held the precinct caucus.
- 1-6-103 (3) In recommending registered electors as election judges, the county chairperson may select only names from the list submitted by the precinct committeepersons. However, the county chairperson may recommend additional registered electors to the county clerk and recorder if the precinct committeepersons do not provide enough names to the county chairperson.
Each county precinct did in fact submit from the 2022 Republican Caucus sufficient numbers of Election Judges for each election location (28 total judge applicants); these judges were used in the Primary Election. However, Chairwoman Elsner declined most every election judge that was used for the Primary and instead located and hand selected new judges, those who categorize as friends and supporters. Having spent the better part of the general election cycle campaigning for the Democrat Commissioner Candidate (Ms. Elsner is a Republican County Chair) Park County Republicans see this as a direct conflict of interest and undermining the two-party system.
Chairwoman Elsner violates the tenets of Election Integrity pursuant to section 1-6-104 (1, 3). Appointment of election judges by county clerk and recorder and designated election officials.
(1) For each election coordinated by the county clerk and recorder, the county clerk and recorder shall appoint election judges for each location where election activities are occurring.
(3) If, at the time the county clerk and recorder appoints election judges, the list of recommended election judges submitted in accordance with section 1-6-102 contains an insufficient number of names for a major political party’s share of the total number of election judges as required in section 1-6-109, the designated election official shall appoint any additional election judges necessary from among the persons recommended by minor political parties in accordance with section 1-6-103.5 and the unaffiliated voters who have offered to serve as election judges in accordance with section 1-6-103.7.
Additionally, Chair Elsner would not certify Poll Watchers that were not hand-picked by her. Because of this fact, those concerned about election integrity found an Issues Committee and a Write-In Candidate that would certify poll watchers for Park County concerned Republicans. Ballots have been processed without notification, even though the schedule was asked for, causing suspicion of improper proceedings. The schedule was received today, November 1, 2022.
I understand Park County has been placed on a watch list due to the departure of retired Clerk Debra Green. I contend Park County could suffer or be accused of election tampering due to the control of Park County Republican Chair Debra Elsner’s conflict of interest, violation of Statute, the lack of transparency of the training her chosen Election Judges received, and unwatched ballot processing. I respectfully ask you to send a person, preferably a retired Clerk and Recorder that has no past ties to Park County to supervise the remainder of the election.
Thank you in advance for your assistance,
Park County
County Commissioner District 1
Amy D. Mitchell
Cell: 719-838-0340
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[1] Ref A: A2148844137345EDB83130768A39A1BB Ref B: LAX311000115049 Ref C: 2022-11-01T15:17:51Z
