This story by Chase Woodruff appeared on Colorado Newsline on October 11, 2022.
The two candidates vying to oversee Colorado’s elections for the next four years offered contrasting visions on Tuesday of how best to respond to growing right-wing threats to voting rights and election security.
Incumbent Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat elected to the post in 2018, faced off against Republican challenger Pam Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk and recorder, in the pair’s first debate ahead of the November midterm elections. The debate was hosted by the University of Denver, The Colorado Sun and CBS4.
“We are seeing the worst attack on voting rights in recent times,” Griswold told the crowd at DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies. “A sitting president tried to steal the presidency, and although he failed, the attacks on the right to vote have not stopped.”
Griswold billed herself as a leader in the fight against election denial and conspiracism, including her response to an unprecedented “insider threat” in Mesa County, where Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters has been indicted by a grand jury for her role in an alleged security breach motivated by former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
Anderson, who has spoken out against election denial and defeated Peters in the GOP’s June primary, said she was running to restore “professionalism” to the office.
“Jena and I agree on some things, but I also think that the role of secretary of state has to stay above the partisan fray,” she said.
Anderson, who said she had never endorsed a political candidate while administering an election, argued that Griswold’s conduct in office had contributed to growing distrust in the legitimacy of election outcomes.
“Even if the perception is that you are putting your thumb on the scale, or like my opponent, advocating for outcomes of elections and winners of elections, that creates doubt for the process,” Anderson said.
Griswold defended her stances in support of causes like abortion rights and marriage equality, arguing that “standing up for fundamental freedoms is not partisan.”
She in turn accused Anderson of “campaigning with election deniers,” including Erik Aadland, the GOP’s nominee in the 7th Congressional District, and Danny Moore, the party’s candidate for lieutenant governor. Anderson has appeared at several Republican Party events alongside Aadland, Moore and other candidates who have questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Reacting to a report that 30,000 non-citizens were mistakenly sent a voter registration mailer from the secretary of state’s office last month, Anderson argued that while “human error happens in every election,” high staff turnover under Griswold had led to the mistake. A similar notice was sent to some ineligible voters in 2020, leading to a series of misleading claims about the mailers by prominent Republicans including U.S. Rep. Ken Buck.
“Making the same error again points to a management problem, points to a lack of leadership,” Anderson said. “What I am concerned about is your lack of accountability for this.”
Griswold called the 30,000 mailers a “data glitch,” and emphasized that any person ineligible to vote who attempted to register would be stopped by “protocol on top of protocol” in the state’s registration system.
“I believe this has happened in prior administrations, but now we’re in such a hot political atmosphere that data glitches can fuel major disinformation,” Griswold said. “I think if we were in a different political atmosphere, this probably wouldn’t get the coverage that it does.”
Griswold and Anderson will meet for another debate, hosted by 9News, on October 24.