Secretary of State Wayne Williams wants to make it clear that even though the Russians might have interfered with last year’s U.S. election, that doesn’t mean the hostile country tampered with ballots or vote totals.

Responding to a story posted online Thursday about U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s recent town hall in Frisco, Williams sent Colorado Politics a text message saying he believes it’s important to distinguish between Russian meddling with the election broadly and fiddling with ballots and the vote count more specifically.

In an interview with Colorado Politics, Bennet said he couldn’t understand why Republicans in Congress were treating Russia’s interference as an open question. “They absolutely did,” he said.

“This shouldn’t be hard,” Bennet continued. “Everyone in – I won’t say everyone in America – everyone who’s had access to the intelligence here, with the possible exception of President Trump, knows that the Russian incursion here was real and was serious, and they were trying to influence the outcome of our elections. They’re doing that all over Europe as well, and people need to pay attention to it.”

Williams said secretaries of state across the country are concerned that Americans are less likely to vote if they think the Russians somehow interfered with or altered ballots or election results, as opposed to everything else officials say the hostile foreign power did to influence the election.

“Why vote if the Russians can change your vote to what they want?” Williams asked, rhetorically.

Williams stressed that the Department of Homeland Security – under both President Obama and President Trump – has stated authorities have found no evidence of altered ballots or changed vote totals anywhere in the country.

It’s similar to the message Williams, a Republican, hammered home in the run-up to the election last fall, often battling then-candidate Donald Trump in a war of words over whether the election was “rigged.”

“The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD,” Trump tweeted on Oct. 16.

The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016

He followed that the next day with another tweet calling out “Republican leaders” for closing their eyes to “large scale voter fraud.”

“Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!” Trump tweeted on Oct. 17, the day before he held a rally in Colorado Springs.

Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2016

Williams was having none of it.

“While there are occasional instances of voter fraud, Colorado’s processes are very good at catching attempts to commit voter fraud,” he said in response to Trump’s tweets. “We are working to improve our processes and prosecute those who break the law.”

Lynn Bartels, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state, mocked Trump’s claims in a statement that blew up on social media: “Donald Trump has been tweeting about elections being rigged, but he offers no evidence of such. I can say on Twitter I’m a super model but that doesn’t make it so.”

.@ColoSecofState spox re Trump voter fraud charges: "I can say on Twitter I’m a super model but that doesn’t make it so." #copolitics #coleg pic.twitter.com/N82ybok67O

— Ernest Lee Luning (@eluning) October 17, 2016

She tossed another barb Trump’s way at the same time, saying, “I follow Donald Trump on Twitter and I don’t recall him saying the polling places and the elections were rigged when he was winning one primary election after another.”

Trump had earlier fumed in April that Colorado’s national convention delegate selection process was “a rigged system” and “a crooked deal” after primary rival Ted Cruz of Texas swept all 34 of Colorado’s delegates to the Republican National Convention.

PolitiFact ruled Trump’s charges “false,” deciding that, while Colorado’s caucus system was quite complicated, Trump had put his resources elsewhere and left the grassroots organizing in Colorado to other candidates.

The fact-checking site pointed to something U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, who supported Florida’s Marco Rubio in the primaries, told Fox News: “Donald Trump, who has known the rules since last August, he decided not to show up. Elections are won by those who show up and Ted Cruz showed up.”

Williams weighed in again after Trump, who lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton, declared in January that he planned to mount an investigation into “VOTER FRAUD” in a pair of tweets.

I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

“Successful voter fraud is rare but important to guard against. Bank robberies also are rare, but banks still employ security guards and put the money in a vault,” Williams said in a statement the same day. “Voters can have confidence in Colorado’s election process.”

Colorado election officials said earlier this year that just one case of criminal voter fraud had come to their attention following last year’s election – when former Colorado Republican Party Chairman Steve Curtis was charged with allegedly forging his former wife’s signature on a mail ballot and fraudulently cast it. Curtis, a conservative talk radio host until soon after the voter-fraud allegations were publicized, faces one misdemeanor and one felony charge. His next scheduled court appearance is in August.

– Ernest.Luning@coloradopolitics.com