DENVER — Colorado’s secretary of state has appointed an election supervisor to oversee the midterm election in November in Elbert County after the clerk and recorder gave unauthorized people copies of images of the county’s voting system hard drives.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold appointed Christi Coburn to oversee November’s election effective Wednesday. Coburn was also appointed to oversee the primary in June while the Secretary of State’s Office investigated the potential election breach involving Elbert County Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder.
The Secretary of State’s Office said the decision to appoint Coburn was because Schroeder gave the copies of election system hard drive images to unauthorized people and because 37 ballots were not verified or counted – ballots that were not discovered until a statewide recount was underway and after Coburn had finished her duties, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office said.
The spokesperson said those ballots were delivered June 10 and Coburn started her job on June 13. The office blamed the mistake on Schroeder and his office.
“If not for the recount, those voters’ ballots could not legally have been counted, and those voters would have been disenfranchised due to the clerk’s error,” the office said.
It’s the second time this week Griswold appointed an election supervisor in one of Colorado’s counties. On Monday, she appointed on in Pueblo County after the clerk and recorder there made an error on the ballot for November’s election.
A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's Office said the investigation into the election breach in Elbert County is ongoing.