Colorado Springs businessman Peter Lupia is challenging Steve Schleiker, the El Paso County assessor, in the Republican primary for clerk and recorder, promising to restore faith in local elections by returning to a hand count of ballots, among other major reforms. 

Lupia, a member of the county’s Republican Central and Executive Committee, does not have “real faith in our election system as it stands” and wants to make changes to the office, such as eliminating the Dominion machines that tabulate votes, improving maintenance of voter rolls and advocating for the end of mail-in voting, among other steps.

He was also motivated to challenge Schleiker, whom he cast as a career politician. Schleiker is term-limited as assessor. 

“I think we have a process forming here of people getting comfortable just being in an elected position,” he said. 

El Paso County Assessor Steve Schleiker running for clerk and recorder

The clerk and recorder’s duties include overseeing offices that handle motor vehicle registrations, marriage licenses as well as elections.

Lupia said he would bring leadership to the office as a entrepreneur who started businesses focused on real estate valuations and security technology. He also works as a consultant for major companies and helps them identify weaknesses, develop a plan to address those issues and implement changes, he said. 

To address what he sees as election security problems, Lupia said he would like to return to hand-counting ballots at the precinct level and eliminate the use of tabulation machines. He would also advocate the state for the elimination of mail-in voting and a return to requiring voters to appear in person with a photo ID to ensure security. He said he questions relying on signature verification to prevent voter fraud because false signatures could be attached and used instead. 

“I appreciate the convenience of mail-in balloting. … That’s not the most secure way to do things,” he said. 

He would also like to limit state involvement in county-run elections and auditing of election results. 

Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman, a Republican, countered Lupia’s claims, saying hand-counting ballots is less accurate, far more time consuming and more expensive. Humans are just not built for the repetitive task of counting ballots, he said. 

“It’s prone to error and shenanigans,” said Broerman, who also is term-limited and running for county treasurer this year.

If the county chose to hand count the nearly 400,000 ballots cast in El Paso County during the 2020 election, it would have taken four to five weeks, Broerman said. 

“I think our voters want results in a timely manner,” he said. 

To prevent fraud, signatures on ballot envelopes are compared to signatures on a voter’s driver licenses and if the computer rejects a signature because it doesn’t match, it is reviewed by bipartisan election judges, said Angie Leath, El Paso County elections director. The signatures are kept at the state level and there is no way to attach a false signature, she said.  

The mail-in voting process that Lupia questions has also been extremely popular in the state with roughly 98% of voters mailing in their ballots in the November election, said Annie Orloff, with the Secretary of State’s Office. 

Lupia also questioned how voter rolls are updated, saying the Electronic Registration Information Center, a membership organization among secretary of state offices that works to keep voter rolls updated across state lines, has lists that are far different from the lists the county maintains. 

Former Secretary of State Wayne Williams said the center helps find people who have voted in multiple states, and he used it to refer people for prosecution for improperly voting.

Lupia’s concern about the center was just one of the examples of statements Lupia made that show he has a misunderstanding of elections, Williams said. 

“He just doesn’t understand the process,” he said. 

Thirty states are involved in the center that helps to keep voter rolls more pristine by alerting the county to changes, such as voters who have moved out of state, Broerman said. 

When it comes to state involvement, Lupia said clerks should have more freedom to fully audit their election results. 

El Paso County has gone over and above what’s required to ensure election integrity, Broerman said, including posting a digital image of every ballot.

Broerman, who is also a member of the county Republican executive committee, said he has offered to give Lupia a tour of the office to understand the process and he has never visited, limiting his knowledge.

“He apparently has listened to conspiracy theorists,” Broerman said. 

The clerk noted in the November election El Paso County’s voter turnout was near the bottom of the large major counties in the state amid local concerns about election security. 

“Has that discourse reduced the voice of the citizens of El Paso County statewide? If that is the case, that is a sad day,” he said. 

He said his office has fielded thousands of calls and emails about election security concerns, and many of those people feel assured votes are secured in the county after talking with the staff. But not everyone. 

“A small handful of people we will never reach, but we aim to continue to try,” he said. 

Whomever wins the Republican primary, Lupia or Schleiker, will face Democratic candidate Lisa Wilkes for the seat in November.