The Colorado Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from a group of unsuccessful Republican candidates who claimed that discretionary primary election recounts conducted by the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office were faulty.

An unsigned order from the Supreme Court filed Friday said the court declined to accept jurisdiction in the case without elaborating, records show.

GOP candidate recount lawsuit dismissed, group appeals to Colorado Supreme Court

After a Denver District Court judge tossed the lawsuit last week, the group asked the Supreme Court to declare void the recounts completed by El Paso County and the state on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4, respectively. They asked the court to compel the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office to turn over all election records used in the recounts and have the Secretary of State’s Office conduct a recount, paid for by the state.

None of the petitioners — El Paso County coroner candidate Dr. Rae Ann Weber, county clerk and recorder candidate Peter Lupia, county commission candidates Lindsay Moore and David Winney, House District 18 candidate Summer Groubert and Senate District 9 candidate Lynda Zamora Wilson — responded to requests for comment this week.

In their lawsuit filed Aug. 1 and amended Aug. 5, the group alleged El Paso County was not conducting the recount “in a fair, impartial and uniform manner.” Citing the work of a “computer science expert” who found “catastrophic failures in the Dominion electronic voting systems” used in Colorado, the candidates also claimed election officials used “improperly tested and unreliable electronic voting systems.”

Judge throws out Tina Peters’ recount challenge in Colorado

El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Chuck Broerman, a Republican, and Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, were named defendants.

Last week, Denver District Court Judge Alex C. Myers tossed the lawsuit, arguing there was no recount to stop. Furthermore, the disputes over recount procedures are moot, Myers wrote, because the results of the June 28 primary election were “final and conclusive.”

The primary election outcomes remained the same after the recounts, certified results show. All petitioners lost their races by double-digit margins.

Tina Peters gains single vote in recount, El Paso County outcomes remain unchanged

Broerman has defended the county’s election and recount processes and said Wednesday the state Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the appeal was the correct choice.

“El Paso County conducted our primary election and the recount in a fair and transparent manner,” he said. “We carried it out to the absolute letter of the law. The (Supreme Court) ruled correctly, as the district judge did in Denver.”

The Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to The Gazette’s request for comment.

Petitioners also filed a lawsuit in El Paso County in late July, asking the district court to allow the candidates who failed to produce the cash for the elective recounts to pay a presumably smaller “adjusted amount.” They alleged the estimated cost of the recounts was “unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.” 

Previously, Broerman said the charges were customary, reflecting the work his office did to scan about 153,000 ballots.

The lawsuit in El Paso County is continuing.

On day of recount deadline, El Paso County judge denies candidates’ motion to extend statutory cutoff

On Wednesday, Broerman said his office is now working on conducting the upcoming November election. The ballot will include numerous political races and a host of various local and statewide legislative proposals.

“We have another election we need to focus on and we have a full plate,” he said. “That’s what we need to focus on right now. We have got to move on.”