The Douglas County Clerk & Recorder serves as the Lead Election Official of Douglas County, as well as other roles. The Department of Elections has a solid reputation for competence and efficiency.
In 2017, Colorado became the first in the nation to administer its own risk-limiting audits after every statewide election. As recommended by election security experts, risk-limiting audits use bipartisan audit boards to examine ballots selected by auditing software and result in statistical levels of confidence that election outcomes are correct, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The incumbent is term limited and the 2022 election promises to be an intriguing political race. The County GOP has already positioned a candidate who has garnered controversy for his right-wing conspiratorial leanings.
Colorado Newsline
2/10/2022
Highlight: "The Colorado Secretary of State’s office closed its investigation into a potential breach in Douglas County’s election system and concluded that there is no current threat to voting equipment security.
The investigation came in response to the discovery of a social media post of an email in which the county’s clerk and recorder, Republican Merlin Klotz, asserted that he made an image copy of the voting system before a trusted build update to voting machines. Secretary of State Jena Griswold asked for further information and issued an order for a response after Klotz failed to respond to her initial request.
“After receiving responses from Douglas County, my office is satisfied that there is no current threat to the county’s election system. We have concluded our investigation,” Griswold said in a Thursday statement."
CPR News
2/3/2022
Highlight: "Colorado’s Democratic secretary of state Jena Griswold is requesting more information about a potential election security breach by Douglas County’s Republican clerk and recorder Merlin Klotz.
This makes Klotz the third GOP election official in Colorado under investigation for their alleged handling of sensitive election technology.
Griswold said her office became aware of a social media post from last October in which Klotz wrote, “we, as always, took a full image backup of our server before a trusted build was done this year.”
The trusted build is a regular process every county goes through after an election, in which the makers of its election equipment update the operating system. Douglas is one of two counties in the state whose equipment is supplied by a company called Clear Ballot. The rest of Colorado uses technology from Dominion Voting Systems, based in Denver.
A false election conspiracy circulated by supporters of former president Trump claims that Dominion used their machines to subvert the 2020 election, and then hid the evidence during the routine software update. Klotz’s social media post did not suggest that he believes Clear Ballot was involved in election fraud but has concerns about Dominion's trusted builds.
The state said Klotz did not respond to a request for more information regarding the alleged incident.
“To ensure the security of Douglas County’s voting equipment, I am issuing an Election Order requiring the Douglas Clerk to disclose information regarding the imaging of the election equipment server,” said Griswold in a written statement announcing her decision Thursday.
Griswold said she is also ordering Douglas County to turn on video surveillance of voting machines and prevent individuals from accessing the equipment unaccompanied.
Denver Post
1/24/2022
Highlight: "Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office is investigating a second county clerk over a possible elections security breach and has ordered Elbert County Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder to turn over information related to allegations that he copied a voting system hard drive.
The Democratic secretary of state ordered the Republican county clerk to appear at a deposition Feb. 7 to explain how the copy of the 2021 Dominion Voting Systems hard drive was made after Griswold’s office said Schroeder did not respond to an email request and an election order requiring the disclosure of information about the “potential security protocol breach.” She also asked that video surveillance of voting equipment be turned on and that no one access the voting equipment unaccompanied.
“As Secretary of State, my top priority is to ensure that every eligible Coloradan – Republican, Democrat, and Independent, alike – has access to secure elections and I will always protect Colorado’s election infrastructure,” Griswold said in a statement.
The secretary of state’s office said it doesn’t believe the “unauthorized imaging has created an imminent or direct security risk to Colorado’s elections” because of when it took place.
This is not the first time the secretary of state’s office has launched an investigation over copies of election equipment hard drives. Last year, Griswold’s office sued Republican Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters over allegations of a security breach, resulting in a judge barring Peters from overseeing the 2021 election, and the secretary of state’s office is also trying to stop Peters from overseeing the 2022 election. Peters is still facing multiple lawsuits, ethics investigations and a grand jury investigation of a possible elections breach in her office."
Colorado Newsline, Dec 21, 2021
by Chase Woodruff
Highlight: Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by six Republican elected officials seeking to launch a third-party “audit” of the 2020 election, part of a broader effort to spread baseless conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud and seize control of state elections.
Griswold’s response, submitted on Monday, moves to dismiss all three claims for relief made by the lawsuit against her, which was filed last month by a group of GOP officials led by state Rep. Ron Hanks, a Penrose lawmaker and 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate.
“My office is requesting the judge dismiss this baseless lawsuit,” Griswold said in a statement. “The plaintiffs’ allegations are patently false, and their legal justifications without merit. Nationwide, bad actors are abusing the judicial process to spread disinformation, undermine confidence in elections, and suppress the right to vote. It is extremely concerning to see elected officials here in Colorado spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.”
CLDA
12/1/2021
A longstanding insider in the local Tea Party and GOP Cabal, Kory Nelson has been handpicked by the DougCo Cabal to run for County Clerk and Recorder.
Nelson is endorsed by stalwarts Chris Holbert, Jim Smallwood and George Brauchler, among others. Nelson’s TRACER posts reveal the list of front-center GOP donors and, when combined with the aforementioned endorsements indicates Nelson as the local GOP’s heir-apparent to Klotz.
Kory Nelson’s campaign website lists only issues that insinuate, without cause, Douglas County has problems with election integrity, choice in voting machines and voter fraud. Although the 2020 elections have been deemed the most secure in history, Nelson uses these Trumpist trigger terms to make locals less confident with elections at every level.
Interestingly, nowhere on his campaign website does Nelson speak to voter rights or easy voting access.
Colorado Newsline, Nov 20, 2021
Ron Hanks, a state lawmaker and a leading Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, is suing Secretary of State Jena Griswold as part of an effort to undertake a third-party “audit” of the 2020 election in Colorado.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in the state district court in Denver and is before Judge Christopher Baumann.
Also named as plaintiffs are Merlin Klotz, the Douglas County clerk and recorder; two of the three Rio Blanco County commissioners, Gary Moyer and Jeff Rector; and Park County Commissioner Amy Mitchell.
Klotz joined the suit as a private citizen in the Hanks suit. The suit viewed as another conspiratorial train stop described by ColoradoPols as “crazypants” and Klotz’s participation as “combination of shamelessness and an irresistible desire to be in the news. (ColoradoPols, 11/22/2021)
Douglas County News Press. Dec 30, 2020
Highlight: "In a public Facebook post, the head of Douglas County’s elections called for Vice President Mike Pence to declare elections in seven states illegal, a move that he said would result in President Donald Trump staying in office.
“Pence has plenary authority on January 6 and can declare AZ, GA, MI, NM, NV, WI and PA elections illegal, not following state and general election processes,” Merlin Klotz said in a Dec. 28 Facebook post. “Contact/encourage Pence.”
The concept Klotz — a Republican elected clerk and recorder in 2014 — was referring to is a long-shot effort for Congress to challenge the electoral tally on Jan. 6. In the post, Klotz further commented that declaring the states' elections illegal would result in 232 electoral votes for Trump and 222 for Joe Biden.
Klotz said in an interview with Colorado Community Media that he was referencing a claim made by a post from an online, conservative blog. He also explained more on his beliefs about the election.
After several media outlets took to Twitter with screenshots of his post — which as of Dec. 30 had been shared nearly 50 times — Klotz said he was using his platform to share information on what he sees as a possible outcome.
“I think it is important that if I’ve got a knowledge base that I share that knowledge base,” he said. “If you don’t like what you hear I’m sorry but this is a possibility.”
Klotz said he does not believe that Dominion voting machines, a target for many who challenge the election results, had any part to play in the election improprieties he alleges.
In another post, Klotz encouraged people to “Write, text, email and pray for Mike Pence to do the right thing."
Colorado Newsline, June 26, 2021
Highlight: Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced last week temporary new rules that narrow who can access and audit voting equipment in Colorado. The emergency rules came in response to unprecedented third-party requests for access to county voting equipment used in the 2020 elections, Griswold said.
In some cases, Griswold told CNN this week, “Our local county election officials were … getting pressured with threats.”
The secretary of state’s office declined to share details about the threats. According to a Newsline survey of the state’s 64 county clerks, the overwhelming majority among the roughly half who responded did not receive threats or requests for third-party audits, but some county clerks have reported a range of menacing encounters.
The new rules prohibit third-party entities from accessing Colorado voting equipment and are intended to prevent audits from being politicized, as is transpiring in other states like Arizona, where the Republican-controlled state Senate commissioned an audit of Maricopa County’s election. According to the Colorado secretary of state’s office, at least two counties, El Paso and Weld, have been contacted by at least one organization, American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom, with an offer to examine voting equipment. But, according to the emergency rules, to access any component of a county’s voting system a person must have passed a comprehensive criminal background check and be either an employee of the county clerk, an employee of the voting system provider, an employee of the secretary of state’s Office, or an appointed election judge.
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