Denver (AP) — Colorado’s Secretary of State will not recount these primaries on Wednesday because they did not pay the two candidates who lost in the Republican primaries last month the required amount by the deadline. Said.
Mesa County Secretary Tina Peters, who lost the Republican Secretary of State nomination, and Ron Hanks, a member of Parliament who failed to bid for the party’s U.S. Senate nomination, said they were in the process of finalizing the results. .. Of the primary. Neither candidate paid $ 236,000 to be paid by July 15 for recounting.
In a letter sent to the office on Tuesday, both said they wanted to recount by hand rather than by machine. The highlight of their election conspiracy theory was their distrust of voting machines.
Peters and Hanks promoted false claims that President Joe Biden did not actually win the election against former President Donald Trump in 2020, and widespread fraud on June 28 in the state. He claimed to have led to a defeat in the Republican preliminary elections.They are part of An increasing number of people are denying the outcome of the 2020 elections They also question their own primary losses.
The Secretary of State’s letter dismissed the candidate’s concerns about possible fraud, stating that manual recounting was not permitted under office rules. It said they have the last window to pay for recounting — until July 26th.
“The Secretary of State has chosen not to provide the accreditation fund required by law, in accordance with all laws and regulations regarding the request for recounting,” spokeswoman Annie Orlov said. I am saying. “Coloradan heard their voice. Candidates should accept the outcome of a safe and impartial election, rather than disinformation.”
There was no response to the request for comment from the email set up for both candidates.
Meanwhile, a group representing the Colorado county secretary said Peters would send an email to the secretary at the beginning of Tuesday requesting a recount of ballots in certain unspecified counties. Matt Crane, Managing Director of the Colorado County Secretary’s Association, said state law did not allow such requests to be made directly to individual counties, and “inappropriate requests” were sent to the county secretaries and their electoral officials. He said he was afraid that it could cause further attacks.
“Clearly, Peters’ demands are part of a greater effort to cause, confuse, and suspicion in our elections,” he said in a statement.
He said her race was not close. Peters lost about 88,500 votes in the Republican primary to former local secretary Pamela Anderson.
After reconfirming and auditing the number of votes, a request was made shortly before the Wednesday deadline for the county to prove the election results.
The usual routine verification of election results has been controversial Nevada and New Mexico After critics have expressed concern about voting machines and ballots.
However, no issues have been reported in Colorado. Secretary of State spokesman Jack Todd said all 64 counties in the state have completed certification or are expecting it by the end of the day.
The office must review the certification report until Monday before officially approving the election results.