Pueblo Clerk Bo Ortiz rebukes ‘misinformation’ from Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters

Embattled Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who decisively lost the Republican primary for Colorado Secretary of State in June, is still stirring up controversy in the final stretch of the 2022 general election season.

Peters, who has been barred from contacting current employees of the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder’s Office, announced she was stepping down from the Colorado County Clerk’s Association in a press release dated Oct. 24, in which she bashed the CCCA and its current president, Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz.

CCCA Executive Director Matt Crane told the Chieftain that Peters was under an ethics violation filed by another member of the organization that is made up of the 64 county clerks in Colorado. Peters resigned from the organization before the complaint could go to a vote, Crane said.

Ortiz said that Peters’ letter was “misinformation.”

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Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz in 2020.

“Who’s surprised that she’s twisting the truth? That’s what she does,” Ortiz said.

Peters did not respond to a follow-up request for comment from the Chieftain.

Without citing evidence, Peters accused the CCCA of colluding with Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based company that most counties in the state contract with for voting equipment and software. Dominion has filed multiple defamation lawsuits against Fox News and conservative figureheads for repeatedly claiming that the company is engaged in election fraud, without proof.

“It has been clear for many months now that Tina Peters violated her oath of office and did not live up to the high standards the clerks across the state set for their offices and their staff,” the CCCA said in a statement about Peters’ resignation.

“She has admitted as much in public statements and court documents. Her assertions about the association to justify her resignation are riddled with falsehoods and conspiracy theories. Her understanding of the association and how it works is almost as bad as her understanding of how Colorado elections work. Serious people are doing the hard work of conducting elections in November. Tina is not one of them.”

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Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, center, reads the results from the first round of ballots for the 2020 presidential primary elections at the Mesa County election office in Grand Junction, Colo., on March 3, 2020. The county’s election equipment has been decertified and will have to be replaced following a security breach allegedly aided by Peters.

Peters’ statement referenced recent ballot errors and alleged Ortiz committed potential state and federal crimes. She questioned why the CCCA continues to support Ortiz amid the mistakes that were made under his leadership.

Ortiz became the president-elect of the CCCA in January 2021 and became the president in 2022: before the errors were made, he emphasized.

Ortiz said the ballots that were misprinted in the June 2022 primary election that were not sent to voters were shredded in compliance with the law. He said that the errors under his leadership were errors from him and his staff, as well as the printing vendor, unlike Peters’ actions.

“Why would the CCA want me out of their organization if I made mistakes? Everything she did was premeditated and illegal — the things that happened in Pueblo County were mistakes. There’s a big difference between the two,” Ortiz said.

While Colorado law stipulates that most election records are retained for at least 25 months, unused ballots may be destroyed after a challenge period. Federal law also mandates that voted ballots with candidates for national offices are retained for at least 22 months and that “negligent mistakes” from election officials are not a crime.

Peters has been indicted by a grand jury and has pleaded not guilty for multiple felonies and misdemeanors from a breach of election equipment in May 2021. Photos of sensitive election information in Mesa County, including passwords, were leaked to a conservative website. A trial is scheduled for March 2023.

Other election administration errors before the 2021 incident have also been reported: under Peters’ leadership, hundreds of ballots were left inside a ballot drop-box.

Peters lost in the GOP primary for secretary of state to Pam Anderson, a previous municipal and county clerk who has distinguished herself from other Republicans by asserting that Trump did not win in 2020.

The Peters campaign funded a recount of the primary election in all 64 Colorado counties, which resulted in a minimal change to the final vote counts.

Peters also alleged that Dominion is considering hiring Ortiz after his term ends in January 2023, which he disputed. He said that he has not been contacted by the company for a job.

“That’s funny,” Ortiz said about Peters’ allegation. “I don’t know how to write software. I’m a county clerk and I’m not even that great at Excel. Dominion needs people that can write programs. That is not me.”

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo Clerk Bo Ortiz disputes ‘misinformation’ from Tina Peters