The completed statewide recount of the June 28 GOP primary for Secretary of State shows no major changes in the ballot totals, with Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters still losing the race by almost 89,000 votes. 

Jeffco Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson, who won the GOP primary and Peters both added 13 votes, while third-place finisher Mike O’Donnell’s gained 11 votes, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Statewide recount for the Republican Secretary of State primary 

State Republican primary race for Senate District 9

Secretary of State Jena Griswold confirmed that all 64 canvass boards have signed off on the statewide recount result, plus the Senate District 9 race.

The recounts confirmed the winners in each of the races.

“The recounts are complete and confirm once again that Colorado elections are safe and secure,” Griswold said in statement. “Accepting the outcome of free and fair elections is a cornerstone of American democracy. Disinformation and frivolous lawsuits do not change the fact that there are winners and losers in an election.” 

The most substantial change in the recount came out of Elbert County and the discovery last week of 37 uncounted ballots by county election workers. 

According to Griswold’s statement, Elbert County Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder last week notified the Department of State that his office found 37 unopened ballots in a bin of undeliverable ballots that were being prepared for storage after the Primary. The clerk’s staff did not find the live ballots in the bin of undeliverable ballots when they arrived on June 10, and, as a result, those 37 unopened ballots were not counted during the initial processing of the primary election ballots.

Schroeder was directed to open and process the 37 ballots, but it did not have any effect on the margins of victory for any statewide candidate or for candidates in Elbert County. That includes Schroeder, who is running for county commissioner and who has not filed a single campaign finance report.

Griswold added: “I commend election workers from across the state and from my office for conducting this recount. In the face of unparalleled pressure and scrutiny, they have stayed focused on our ultimate goal: ensuring that every eligible Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated voter has their voice heard. Repeating a lie over and over does not make it true. Colorado’s elections are secure, and voters’ can be confident in them.”

Peters, who lost by nearly 89,000 votes to Anderson as indicated by official election results, had sought the statewide recount.  

An automatic recount is triggered when the difference between the winning margin and second place is 0.05% of the winner’s total. That didn’t happen, as Peters lost by nearly 10 percentage points.

Peters twice asked for a hand recount, which was denied. Under the state’s election rules, recounts must be conducted in the same manner as the original vote tabulation, which was by machine.

Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, said in a Thursday afternoon statement that the state’s 64 county clerks and their election teams ran a professional, accurate, and transparent recount of the Republican primary candidates for secretary of state.

Crane pointed out that candidates for office in Colorado have the right to ask for and pay for a recount of their race.

The statewide recount demonstrated, yet again, that Colorado’s voting systems are extremely accurate, he said.

“Clerk Peters did not lose a close race, she lost this primary contest by 88,000 votes, almost 15%, statewide,” Crane said. “The recount she asked for showed she lost, just as our post-election audits already held in every county and certified by volunteer citizen canvass boards found. Clerk Peters’ attempt to concoct a reason for this recount is window dressing for the larger effort to undermine confidence in our elections.”

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Peters was required to submit $255,912.33 for the recount, which she paid a week ago. She raised more than $503,000 in a seven-day period. According to 9News, those contributions largely followed Peters’ appearances on Steve Bannon’s War Room broadcast. 

Peters and several El Paso County candidates who lost elections for county and statewide office have filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court, seeking to have the recount halted and to order Secretary of State Jena Griswold to conduct it instead. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, alleged the recount “has not been conducted in a fair, impartial and uniform manner.” They also demanded that the recount be conducted manually.

Court records show a hearing is not scheduled until October.