Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is seeking to challenge the results of the June 28 primary for the Republican nod for Secretary of State.

Peters signed a notarized letter seeking a recount on July 12, according to information from the Mesa County District Attorney’s office. That letter was received by the Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office Thursday morning.

That letter also served as a key piece of a Thursday morning decision by a Mesa County court judge to issue a warrant for Peters’ arrest. The terms of her $25,000 bond include the requirement to request permission to travel.  The recount letter is notarized by a Clark County, Nevada notary.

Mesa County judge revokes Tina Peters' bond, issues arrest warrant

In her letter, Peters alleged there was “extensive malfeasance” in the June 28 primary. She pointed out that she took almost 61% of the delegate vote at the state GOP assembly and won every straw poll, which she claimed meant she should have won the race. 

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Peters also cited a June 3 notice from CISA, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, which warned of vulnerabilities in Dominion’s ImageCastX system, based on a report by a University of Michigan computer science professor that has not been publicly released. The CISA notice, however, says the vulnerabilities have not been exploited.

In addition, that system is used only for in-person voting and on paper ballots. Most Coloradans vote by mail. 

Former Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson won the June 28 primary with 43.06% of the vote. 

Peters took second place in the contest, with 28.86% of the vote, winning just seven out of the state’s 64 counties, including Delta and Montrose on the western slope and Baca on the Eastern Plains.

Mike O’Donnell, who finished with just 5,000 fewer votes than Peters and at 28.08% of the vote, won 17 counties, mostly on the Eastern Plains. Anderson took the rest, including the population centers along the Front Range.

The state would authorize a recount if the margin between the first and second place finishers was 0.5% or less of Anderson’s winning vote total. However, Anderson won by more than 14 percentage points over Peters. 

In a statement, Secretary of State Jena Griswold said her office “has received formal notices requesting a recount from Ron Hanks for the 2022 Republican Primary Election Race for U.S. Senate and Tina Peters for the 2022 Republican Primary Election Race for Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s Office will follow all the steps required by Colorado Statute regarding any request for a recount.”

Because the vote did not meet the requirements for an automatic recount, Peters will have to pay for the recount, and that could be pricey.

Peters raised only $215,000 for her primary campaign and had just over $32,000 cash on hand as of June 22, according to TRACER, the state campaign finance database.

Peters claims the indictment is part of a witch hunt against her and denies the charges. 

Given that Peters decided to run for Secretary of State, her term of office as Mesa County clerk and recorder will end in January. Bobbie Jo Gross, whom Peters defeated in the 2018 Republican primary, won the June 28 primary to replace her and is likely to win the general election in November.