The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office will begin recounts in the local primary races for clerk and recorder and coroner this weekend.

Republican candidates Peter Lupia and Dr. Rae Ann Weber, who lost in the June 28 Republican races for county clerk and coroner, respectively, formally requested and submitted payment to the county clerk’s office for the recounts, officials said Thursday.

The final results for both races, completed by a bipartisan appointed Canvass Board July 15, did not meet the threshold set by Colorado law to trigger an automatic recount. State election rules require races within a margin less than or equal to 0.5% of the winner’s vote receive mandatory recounts, paid for by the state.

Final official voting results show Lupia lost by 28 percentage points in the clerk’s primary race to Steve Schleiker, the current El Paso County assessor. Weber lost by more than 31 percentage points to incumbent county Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly.

The total cost to conduct the two recounts is about $20,800 and is paid by the candidates who requested them, not by county taxpayers, El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman said Thursday.

Peters, Hanks seek another recount

“This request for a paid recount by a candidate is their right as a candidate,” Broerman said in a news release. The county’s election staff, appointed Canvass Board and election judges will conduct the recounts, he said.

Lupia and Weber requested the recounts be done by hand, Broerman said, which is not permitted by state law. Recounts must be done using the same form of tabulation used to count the original votes — by machine — Colorado election rules state.

Before an election, the county clerk’s office conducts a public logic and accuracy test on all its ballot counting equipment to demonstrate and ensure each machine processes and tabulates ballots correctly, Broerman said. The first was completed May 27. Officials will test the machines used for the election again in another logic and accuracy test before conducting the recounts. If the second test fails, only then can a recount be done by hand, he said.

“Since 2016, when the equipment platform was utilized in the state, there have been over 1,000 audits of our voting equipment in logic and accuracy tests and the forensic risk limiting audit,” Broerman said. “They pass with 100% accuracy. They have never failed.”

After the equipment testing is complete, the ballot recount will begin Saturday and must conclude by Aug. 4, he said.

Lupia and Weber joined a growing list of GOP candidates who sought recounts at the local and state levels.

On Tuesday, three legislative candidates asked the Secretary of State’s Office for hand recounts: Lynda Zamora Wilson, who lost the Republican primary for Senate District 9 in Monument by 32 percentage points to Sen. Paul Lundeen; Karl Dent, who lost to Rep. Mary Bradfield in the race for Colorado Springs-based House District 21 by more than 30 percentage points; and Summer Groubert, who lost to Shana Black in the race for House District 18, also in Colorado Springs, by 35 percentage points.

Zamora Wilson provided sufficient funds to move forward with her recount, the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed Thursday evening. Dent and Groubert did not provide payments for their discretionary recounts. El Paso County will rescan ballots for the District 9 state senate Republican primary race as well as the clerk and coroner races. Zamora Wilson will share the total cost of the recount conducted by the county, Broerman said.

The El Paso County Clerk’s Office also received formal recount requests from sheriff’s candidate Todd Watkins and county commission candidates Lindsay Moore and David Winney, but they did not provide sufficient funds for the cost of the recount by the statutory deadline, Broerman said in the release.

El Paso County establishment Republicans and their primary wins: 2 key areas made the difference

Lupia, Weber, Watkins, Moore and Winney have criticized the Colorado elections process and supported former President Donald Trump’s claims the 2020 election was stolen. The candidates campaigned as a slate, appearing together on several websites such as Restore Liberty, Appeal to Heaven for Colorado, Top Line Vote and Republican Strategy Forum.

A coalition calling itself the Colorado Recount Coalition held a fundraiser on Sunday in El Paso County to raise money for the recounts, Colorado Politics reported. Lupia, Weber, Watkins, Moore, Winney, Zamora Wilson, Groubert, Tina Peters and Ron Hanks are listed on the group’s website as candidates demanding a hand recount.

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