CALENDAR

Where the four Republicans running to represent the 8th Congressional District stand on the big issues

BY SHANNON NAJMABADI THE COLORADO SUN

Four candidates are running in the June 28 Republican primary in Colorado’s new 8th Congressional District for the chance to face Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo in November.

The 8th District is the most diverse U.S. House district in Colorado and it’s expected to be one of the most competitive in the nation this year as Republicans fi ght to take back control of Washington, D.C. More than 40% of active registered voters in the district are unaffi liated, and the rest are about evenly split between the Democratic and Republican parties.

The Colorado Sun asked the four Republican candidates in the 8th District, which covers parts of Adams, Larimer and Weld counties, their positions on what are expected to be the top issues in the race.

Who are the candidates

Tyler Allcorn, a former U.S. Army Green Beret. He is a political newcomer who lives in western Arvada, which isn’t in the 8th District. He plans to move into the district if voters elect him to represent them. • Barbara Kirkmeyer, a state senator from Brighton. She is a former Weld County Commissioner and dairy farmer. • Jan Kulmann, the mayor of Thornton and an oil and gas engineer. • Lori Saine, a Weld County Commissioner. The conservative fi rebrand, from Firestone, served eight years in the state House.

When should abortions be allowed and under what circumstances?

All four candidates identify as being anti-abortion.

Kulmann and Allcorn don’t support abortions except in cases of rape and incest or if the life of the mother is at risk. Kirkmeyer thinks abortions should be allowed only in cases where a mother’s life is endangered by pregnancy.

As a state lawmaker, Saine sponsored legislation that would have made all abortions illegal, including in cases of rape and incest, and would have made doctors who perform abortions subject to criminal penalties, including life in prison or the death penalty. “We believe this is a murdering of a human being,” she said, according to a 2019 Colorado Sun article.

Here are more details on where the candidates stand on abortion:

ALLCORN: “I’m pro-life and believe in exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother,” Allcorn said in a written statement. His campaign website says he believes in the “sanctity of life and the unborn” and that “taxpayer money should never be used to subsidize abortions.”

KIRKMEYER: “I am pro-life but accept an exception for when the life of the mother is in imminent danger.”

KULMANN: “I’m pro-life, and don’t support abortion except in the case of rape, incest and the life of the mother. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, it will be up to the states. Colorado voters have spoken on this issue several times, and the Supreme Court decision won’t change much here. I do support federal legislation that would limit late-term abortion, except in cases when a mother’s life is at risk, and I strongly support the Hyde Amendment — taxpayers shouldn’t pay for abortion.”

SAINE: “I am pro-life and my record speaks for itself,” Saine said in

Republican candidates in the 8th Congressional District clockwise from top left: Tyler

Allcorn, Barbara Kirkmeyer, Jan Kulmann and Lori Saine. COLORADO SUN FILE PHOTOS

SEE ISSUES, P11

REIGENBORN

into treatment.

Adams County operates its own academy, Flatrock Regional Training Center. What is the most important thing to teach new police cadets?

It is important to teach new recruits the importance of the new laws that mandate reporting of crimes, some of which is, if they see improper actions by their co-workers, they must report the action.

We also need to ensure that the State required training hours met

CLAPS

opioid crisis?

The sheriff has a key role in education, enforcement and reduction to affect the opioid crisis. In 2017-2018, I identifi ed the issues concerning opioid use and the recidivism in our jail and with several other stakeholders started the fi rst Vivitrol Program in Adams County focused on inmates that were being released with an opioid addiction. Inmates who volunteered for the program received medication before leaving the facility and had appointments for follow-up physical and mental health care to ensure their success. The sheriff is obligated to reduce recidivism and help by providing education to assist in reducing opioid use.

Adams County operates its own academy, Flatrock Regional Training Center. What is the most important thing to teach new police cadets?

In law enforcement and policing, constitutional and civil rights are the most important topic of concern. Agencies and cadets can then serve in their communities with a better understanding of how to work and interact with their community members while repairing the mistrust of law enforcement. However, running your own training facility requires leadership, command staff and instructors who lead by example and who hold the highest qualities in morals, ethics and education to instruct and provide the most accurate, analyzed and resourced information for their learning experience and success.

for the mandatory training as well, for all employees.

What is the biggest issue facing the sheri ’s department?

Staffi ng as population continues to grow in Adams County, it affects our patrol and jail staff. We need to increase our civilian staff as well as the amount of deputies.

How would you deal with that issue?

We are strengthening our hiring recruitment and our retention efforts.

It is diffi cult as other agencies are doing large sign-on bonuses and paying a considerable amount more we need to be more creative to draw that talent to the Sheriffs Offi ce.

We have bi-weekly meetings to discuss hiring strategies and retention ideas. Our citizens advisory board has been extremely helpful in this area with innovative ideas.

What is another issue that you would make a priority if elected?

We need to take a serious look and updating our jail or building a new one closer to the courthouse. As our current jail is dated and in need of costly repairs, we must take a close look at the fi nancial cost of repairing or replacing it.

We also need to look at expanding the Flatrock training center as the additional training requirements are changing through legislation, we need to ensure we are prepared to meet the requirements and needs of our staff and community.

What should the sheri do regarding homeless and encampments reported in Adams County?

The Sheriffs Offi ce is assisting the Adams County Park Rangers in fi nding resources for those experiencing homelessness, fi nding them safe environments to live and not cause stresses upon the community in which they are currently encamping.

It is our hope that our co-responder program will integrate with the homeless community as well, so they can receive the mental health/ addiction treatment they could potentially need.

Administration and Administrative review, morale, transparency, community trust and engagement

How would you deal with that issue?

I would complete a 360 review of all sheriff’s offi ce functions and Divisions, re-establish policy and procedures, review hiring practices, disciplinary practices, review retention performance, budget review and recruit past and new employees who qualify and who have left during the last four years to help with staffi ng needs.

What is another issue that you would make a priority if elected?

Communicate and reach out to communities and community groups to repair our relationships and identify their policing needs. Communicate and reach out to other stakeholders, mental health care professionals and agencies in Adams County to build a proactive, collaborative group of professionals to work collectively in providing services in Adams County and the sheriff’s offi ce.

What should the sheri do regarding homeless and encampments reported in Adams County?

The sheriff should work collaboratively with other elected offi cials, cities and forms of government to establish resources to provide mental health services, education, training, employment and housing resources to help reduce homelessness and enable the homeless an opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. To help reduce economic, environmental and safety concerns to both the homeless and community members.

Democrats fund ads boosting controversial GOP candidates in critical Colorado primaries

E ort seems aimed at giving Democrats a leg up in general election

BY SANDRA FISH AND JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN

Groups linked to Democrats appear to be trying to use pricey television ads and mailers to boost the profi les of three conservative — and controversial — candidates in Colorado running in important Republican primaries this year.

The effort seems to be aimed at giving Democrats a leg up in the general election. It’s not the fi rst time Democrats have deployed such tactics in Colorado, and in the past they’ve been successful.

The ad spending in the gubernatorial and U.S. Senate contests alone is at least $1.5 million, according to contracts fi led with the Federal Communications Commission through Tuesday that were analyzed by The Colorado Sun. The ads, which are running statewide, began airing Tuesday and some are scheduled to last through June 28, Election Day. It’s likely the spending is even higher, as many TV stations don’t fi le contracts immediately.

The ads are positioned to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez, a former mayor of Parker. Hehas made controversial statements on the campaign trail and in 2020 settled a lawsuit fi led by federal prosecutors alleging that after he left the Small Business Administration, where he was the Colorado district director from 2008 to 2014, he violated federal law by attempting to improperly infl uence the agency.

They also seem geared toward supporting state Rep. Ron Hanks, a Fremont County Republican running for U.S. Senate who attended the rally preceding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and baselessly asserts the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Hanks says Republicans should be unapologetically conservative in order to beat incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in November.

Meanwhile, mailers sent to voters in Colorado’s new highly, competitive 8th Congressional District appear to support Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine, one of four GOP primary candidates. Saine has called herself the most “far-right/conservative/ America First” Republican candidate running in the race and has advocated for the impeachment of President Joe Biden.

While it isn’t clear who sent the mailers — they didn’t include a disclosure, possibly in violation of federal election law — the postal permit used on them has been used in the past by the fi rm Plumb Marketing to distribute mailings by Democratic interests.

The ads arrive during an election cycle that has seen relatively little TV advertising compared with past years. That’s in part because Republican candidates in competitive primaries are raising so little money, and Democratic incumbents are saving their cash for the general election.

Big spending in Colorado Senate, governors primaries

Democratic Colorado, a recently formed federal super PAC, is airing at least $780,000 worth of TV ads statewide in the next week that purport tooppose Hanksin the U.S. Senate contest. But they also highlight his conservative positions on issues including abortion and the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Hanks faces construction company owner Joe O’Dea in the June 28 GOP primary. O’Dea, a wealthy self-funding candidate, has more moderate views on issues including abortion, and he also has far more money to spend than Hanks, who has yet to air TV or radio ads.

O’Dea plans to spend more than $300,000 in the coming weeks on TV ads in a race where polling shows voters don’t really know either candidate. Additionally, American Policy Fund, a super PAC funded in part by contractors with ties to O’Dea, has reported spending $600,000 on digital, radio and TV ads supporting O’Dea.

Hanks praised the publicity about his conservative views.

“Unaffi liated voters and Democrats fully recognize this economy is in shambles, and (President) Joe Biden caused it,” Hanks told The Sun. “I welcome their support, and I am pleased they recognize my straightforward policies and professional experience make me the only choice on the Republican side.”

O’Dea’s campaign slammed the attempt to “hijack the Republican primary.”

And the NRSC, which supports GOP Senate candidates, issued a news release calling the ads a sign of Democratic “panic.”

“In supposedly ‘blue’ Colorado, Democrats are reportedly dumping 7-fi gures into the REPUBLICAN Senate primary to try and stir up drama,” the release said. “Just goes to show you how vulnerable Michael Bennet is in a state that Joe Biden won by more than 13 points.”

Democrats have been signaling for months that they would prefer Bennet face Hanks than O’Dea, including by calling Hanks the GOP primary frontrunner despite there has been very little public polling in the race. Nevertheless, a spokeswoman for Democratic Colorado maintained that the ads are aimed at opposing Hanks, even though it’s not clear he will win the primary.

“We are an organization committed to ensuring that Colorado does not elect a Republican to the U.S. Senate and giving voters the facts about who’s running to represent them,” the spokeswoman, Democratic operative Alvina Vasquez, wrote in an email. “Ron Hanks is simply too conservative for Colorado and voters deserve to know the truth about him: At every opportunity, Hanks has consistently put conservative values ahead of our interests — from denying the results of the 2020 election to fi ghting to ban all abortions and increase access to guns.”

In the governor’s race, the Colorado Information Network, a statelevel super PAC, is spending at least $688,000 on TV ads about Lopez that similarly highlight his conservative bona fi des on abortion, gay marriage and former President Donald Trump though they end by criticizing the candidate for being too far right. Those ads are scheduled through the end of the month.

Colorado Information Network spent more than $300,000 supporting Democratic candidates in the 2018 general election.

Lopez faces University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl in the GOP primary. Ganahl is far and away the fundraising leader in the race, which will decide who faces Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in November.

Ganahl spokeswoman Lexi Swearingen criticized the ads.

“Democrats outside Colorado are dumping millions of dollars into this race in an attempt to pick the candidate, a former Democrat himself, that they feel they can easily beat in November,” Swearingen said in a statement to The Sun. “Democrats know that Heidi Ganahl is a formidable opponent with a message that resonates with not only Republicans but also the 45% of unaffi liated voters in our state.”

But Lopez sees the ad differently. He denied that the ad is meant to boost his campaign calling it an attack that’s proof he’s a “real threat to Polis.”

Ganahl’s campaign booked about $32,000 in cable TV ads in recent days, based on contracts fi led with the FCC. But Lopez has yet to go on the air and had only about $17,000 in his campaign bank account as of May 25.

Mystery mailers in 8th Congressional District

In the 8th Congressional District, an unidentifi ed group sent three mailers contrasting the views of Saine with those of state Rep. Yadira Caraveo, the Democratic nominee in the district.

The mailers don’t suggest people should vote for or against either candidate — and they don’t include a disclosure of who sent them. FEC rules require reporting of electioneering spending within 30 days of a primary election, and two of the mailers fall within that window.

“The question Republican voters need to ask themselves before they vote is why is there a secret Democratic group sending out illegal mailers to try and help Lori Saine win the nomination,” said Alan Philp, a spokesman for state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, one of the other 8th District Republican candidates.

Saine argued that the mailers actually support Caraveo.

“By not listing Yadira Caraveo’s support for abortion up to the day (of) birth, that she opposes voter photo ID and wants to take away ALL your guns, these ads are boosting Caraveo, covering up her outrageous extremism and support for the failed Biden agenda,” Saine told The Sun.

The Sun asked Plumb Marketing about who is responsible for the mailers, but didn’t hear back.

Kelly Maher, a Republican political consultant and 8th District resident, said she may fi le a complaint with the FEC about the mailers.

“You don’t know where the source of this information is coming from,” she said. “The question is whether the average Republican primary voter will be able to discern that.”

Three of the four candidates in the 8th District GOP primary are spending on TV ads, but none have booked more than $100,000.

The big spending will come in the fall, when Democratic and Republi-

Republican gubernatorial candidates Heidi Ganahl, left, and Greg Lopez.

COURTESY OF THE COLORADO SUN

can groups are poised to spend big trying to win the toss-up seat that may determine which party controls Congress.

The House Majority PAC, which supports Democrats, has booked more than $4.4 million in fall ads focused at least in part on the 8th District, while the Congressional Leadership Fund, which supports Republicans, has booked $4.1 million

Democratic involvement in GOP primary is not unusual

Democratic involvement in Republican primaries in Colorado isn’t new.

In 2010, for instance, a group called Colorado Freedom Fund spent more than $500,000 airing ads attacking former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis in his GOP gubernatorial primary contest against political newcomer Dan Maes. The ads aired in the days before the primary, after the last campaign fi nance fi ling deadline for outside spenders, so it wasn’t until after the contest, which Maes won by 5,150 votes, that Coloradans learned the Democratic Governors Association and unions were behind the Colorado Freedom Fund.

In 2014, Protect Colorado Values aired ads attacking former U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez and praising former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo in the Republican gubernatorial primary. That group spent $567,000 on TV, radio and digital ads, but Beauprez still won the nomination.

Protect Colorado Values’ money also came from the Democratic Governors Association and other groups traditionally aligned with Democrats.

Both Beauprez and Maes went on to lose to former Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat.

This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

ISSUES

a written response to The Sun. She described the recently passed House Bill 1279, which affi rms abortion access in Colorado, as allowing for “the butchering of children up until the day of birth.” Saine has also tried to make Weld County a “pro-life sanctuary” as a symbolic stance against abortion. If elected to Congress, she has said she will sponsor legislation — already introduced by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and West Virginia U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, both Republicans — to ban abortions starting at conception, essentially extending personhood to fertilized eggs.

Would you support any additional federal restrictions on guns, including expanding background checks or enacting safe-storage requirements?

ALLCORN: “We don’t need more laws on the books, and I will stand against any efforts to disarm lawabiding Americans,” Allcorn said in a statement.

“Passing laws that restrict fi rearm usage will only affect law-abiding citizens,” Allcorn’s campaign website says. “Criminals will ignore these laws, and good people will suffer.”

KIRKMEYER: “Our goal must be to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. That starts with better enforcement of laws and ending the revolving door that allows bad guys back onto the streets to create more crime,” she said in a written response. “I have yet to see a proposal regarding gun laws that would prevent crimes and shootings. If someone is willing to commit murder, he or she is not going to be dissuaded by a new gun law.” Asked in an interview whether she supports requiring universal background checks, she asked what purpose they would serve at the federal level “if they are being handled” by states.

KULMANN: Kulmann has not directly answered this question, emphasizing in written responses the need to comprehensively address a national “mental health crisis” and expand the number of police in communities and schools. “Groups as diverse as Children’s Hospital, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological Association have all pointed to this crisis in our kids,” Kulmann said in a written answer. She added: “Those who say we don’t need more law enforcement in our communities and in our schools are reckless and wrong.”

SAINE: “Would-be mass murderers want easy targets and will fi nd a way to get weapons regardless of the laws that they ignore. Folks should investigate for themselves why… mass shootings haven’t happened at thousands of schools with armed teachers. I see that many of those same schools’ post signs warning that staff is armed and trained,” Saine said in written responses. “I was once approached by a superintendent in my district who asked me a question: ‘The sheriff is over 30 minutes away, Rep. Saine — am I supposed to hide with the kids in a dark corner and hope the shooter doesn’t fi nd us?’ Shortly thereafter, that same school board chose to arm certain teachers and staff.”

Saine sued — so far unsuccessfully — to overturn a Colorado law that allows judges to temporarily order the confi scation of guns from those deemed at risk to themselves or others. She voted no on a 2013 bill requiring background checks for all gun sales, as did every other Republican in the state General Assembly. She also led the charge to repeal a Colorado ban on high-capacity magazines, and recently advocated on Twitter — after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas — to “let teachers carry.”

Do you support a path to legal citizenship for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally?

Kirkmeyer, Kulmann and Saine expressed some openness to offering a path to citizenship for people living in the U.S. illegally who were brought to America as children. Many of those immigrants currently have deportation protections and work authorization under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.

Allcorn does not support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the country.

All four candidates also called for tighter border security and other immigration system reforms.

Here’s where they stand:

ALLCORN: “No.”

KIRKMEYER: “If they’re already in the country, I think there’s a lot of discussion that needs to occur there,” Kirkmeyer said in an interview with The Sun. “My kids went to school in Fort Lupton and they had friends whose parents brought them here when they were 2 months old, and they didn’t know it. They didn’t know that they weren’t American citizens. They always thought they were until they turned 18. I think in those cases, we need to have compassion and we need to work with them to fi nd a path (to citizenship). Is it just an automatic, you’re done? No.”

KULMANN: Kulmann said “a humane and sensible immigration policy means stopping the fl ow of illegal immigration and fi nding a commonsense solution for those who are here, especially children.” Securing the border “with a massive commitment of resources, including a wall” should come fi rst, she said. But children who came to the U.S. through no choice of their own deserve legal status, she said. And there should be a process for working unauthorized immigrants who haven’t broken the law to seek legal citizenship.

“Those who have followed the rules should be at the front of the line. Those who came here illegally should be at the back of the line,” she said in a written response.

SAINE: “Children brought across the border should be offered an opportunity to become a citizen like all other immigrants in a naturalization process that is fair, understandable and that works,” Saine said in a written response. She also said that the immigration system is bureaucratic and encourages malfeasance.

“I have worked personally with a business owner who was struggling with our citizenship process. … He was asked to provide monetary compensation by an outside agent to move things along when his paperwork got stuck. That is unacceptable and, as your congresswoman, I will work to fi x this so we have a legal immigration system that works for those who want to become Americans,” Saine said in a written response.

How would you represent a district as diverse — economically, demographically, etc — as the 8th District?

The 8th District has the largest percentage of Hispanic people of any of Colorado’s U.S. House districts at 39%. And it stretches from north Denver to the conservative stronghold of Weld County, which has notable agriculture and oil and gas industries.

ALLCORN: “I’m an immigrant to this country. I came here in 1993. I understand what it is to come to a new place somewhere that’s very different from where you were growing up and where you’re from. I understand what the challenges are,” Allcorn said at a May event hosted by the Republican Women of Weld.

KIRKMEYER: “Voters across the district, no matter their economic or demographic status, face the same challenges and concerns: rising crime and lawlessness, infl ation, illegal immigration, and attacks on energy and agriculture jobs. I will appeal to our diverse district by attacking those challenges, head on.”

KULMANN: “By doing what I’ve always done, listening to the people and following through on what I say I’m going to do. My experiences as an oil and gas engineer in the fi elds up in Weld County and as the mayor for the City of Thornton have allowed me to not only develop a strong understand-

ing of the issues, but it has allowed me to develop strong relationships with the community.” SAINE: “I approach every voter the same when I talk to them about freedom because they all have the same concerns about the loss of freedom in scribed the recently passed House Bill our country and the loss of opportunity for their children. And I am fi nding all mothers are concerned about the rising cost of gas, food, and rising crime plaguing their neighborhoods, all exacerbated by Joe Biden’s failed extreme economic agenda.”

Who won the 2020 election?

Three of the four candidates say Joe Biden won the election. Saine has not clearly answered the question. ALLCORN: “Whether you like it or not, Joe Biden is currently sitting in the Oval Offi ce. And he shouldn’t be, but he is because he was elected,” Allcorn said at the Republican Women of Weld forum. He added, “that doesn’t mean that there isn’t voter fraud that needs to be addressed in our country, and that we need to look for policies to prevent that from happening again.” He supports a requirement that voters show photo identifi cation to cast a ballot, which Colorado does not require. KIRKMEYER: “Joe Biden won the election,” Kirkmeyer said at the Republican Women of Weld forum. She added it “doesn’t mean that we don’t need to go back and look at what’s going on within election law.” KULMANN: “Joe Biden won the election and he’s a lousy president. I am running to take back the House and put a stop on his radical agenda that continues to hurt working families across the country.” SAINE: Saine has not directly answered the question. “A lot of voters in this district have reached out to me about election questions and concerns about election integrity,” she told The Sun. “I think both parties could meet these concerns head on by passing a photo voter ID law. It makes sense to folks that you would need some kind of photo ID to vote and this would allay many concerns for our constituents now and in the future,“ she added in a written response. As a state lawmaker, Saine initiated a late 2020 hearing over election security issues that turned up no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

What will be your top priority as a member of Congress?

ALLCORN: Allcorn’s campaign did not respond to this question from The Sun.

KIRKMEYER: She said her “most immediate priority” is to secure the Southern border. “This is something a new, Republican Congress can do

Anderson, O’Donnell, Peters have dramatically di erent positions

BY SANDRA FISH THE COLORADO SUN

Three Republicans are running this year to be Colorado’s next secretary of state, a position in which they would oversee the administration of elections and handle business registration.

It’s a job that’s become highly politicized since the 2020 presidential election, which former Republican President Donald Trump and his supporters baselessly claim was stolen from him through fraud and malfeasance. Two of the three GOP candidates embrace those claims.

The Republican candidate who wins the June 28 primary will go on in November to face Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who has risen to national prominence defending election systems in Colorado and elsewhere.

The Colorado Sun asked the three GOP candidates about some of the major issues in the contest.

Who are the candidates?

• Pam Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk and recorder and the former executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association • Mike O’Donnell, an Australian immigrant and Yuma County resident who has worked at nonprofits that make loans to small businesses. He does not have experience in election administration. • Tina Peters, the Mesa County clerk who was indicted earlier this year in a security breach of her county’s election system. She has also been barred by a judge from overseeing the 2022 elections in Mesa County partly because of the breach, which stemmed from her belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Yes or no: Was the 2020 presidential election stolen?

ANDERSON: “No. Here in Colorado we have independent, verifiable paper ballots audits that have found no evidence that the outcome was incorrect.”

O’DONNELL: “Well, I can’t say yes or no to that. We have a president (Joe Biden) who’s in power today. So whether or not it was stolen, we probably won’t know for quite a while, but (Biden) is the elected president.”

PETERS: Yes. “This is a personal opinion based on the evidence that I have seen and gone through and based on what I know from our reports. I do believe there may have been enough fraud that it turned the election.”

Top priorities for the candidates

ANDERSON: She said she wants to restore “trusted professionalism” to the Secretary of State’s Office and to county clerk and recorder offices across Colorado. “We have had a long tradition of nonpartisan administration in these offices that sort of remain above that partisan fray,” she said. “That’s been my record, as both a municipal and county clerk both from the management side as well as the elections administration side.”

O’DONNELL: He said he wants to work with the legislature and members of his executive team at the Secretary of State’s Office to craft bills, including a measure that would “wind back” automatic voter registration, the process in which people are registered to vote when they get their driver’s license. O’Donnell said he also wants to “look at what we can do to not decimate the small business sector the same way we did during COVID.”

PETERS: “For sure it would be election security. If someone is voting who shouldn’t be voting, that’s diluting your vote.”

Mail-in ballots and early voting

We asked the three candidates if they’d support ending Colorado’s allmail-ballot elections, which became statewide in 2013, and if they’d limit or end early in-person voting.

ANDERSON: She’d keep the current system. “For access to our constitutional rights here in Colorado, our model provides freedom of choice to the voter. While we proactively mail a ballot to every active eligible voter, the choice still remains for the voter if they wish to utilize that mail ballot or to go to a vote center anywhere in their county. I think that choice remaining with the voter is important.”

O’DONNELL: He didn’t directly answer the mail-ballots question. “There are people who pretend to be residents here who get their ballots sent out of state and are voting from out of state.” On early voting: “I’m not sure that I have a strong opinion about that. I think we start voting very, very early here.”

PETERS: She said use of mail-in ballots should be limited to people who can’t vote in person because of physical disabilities or overseas voters, though she added “if we can eliminate the fraud any other way, I’m all for solutions. … I think that some of these, what they call conveniences, have gotten to the point where they’re being abused.” She said, however, that early voting is fine.

On changing or eliminating election rules

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office enacts election rules that county clerks have to abide by. We asked the three GOP candidates how they would approach the rulemaking process.

ANDERSON: She said she would like to examine rules on candidate and petition signature collection, as well as rules ballot signature verification. And she wants to return “to being inclusive with the local election officials and how these rules impact voters on the ground.”

O’DONNELL: He said he’s concerned that current rules allow potential noncitizens to register to vote, in turn inflating voter rolls. He said he’d want to change such rules.

PETERS: She said she’d eliminate a 2021 rule prohibiting third-party audits of election equipment, which was aimed at addressing calls from her and her followersothers for an Arizona-style audit of the 2020 presidential election results in Colorado. She said she might also get rid of other rules. “This secretary of state — and I’ve talked to other clerks who have been around for 20 years — has passed more legislation, has rolled out more rules than any one secretary of state in the last 20 years.”

Relationship with county clerks and their association

Elections are managed at the local level by county clerks, who oversee ballot printing and counting and audits of results. The secretary of state works closely with those clerks and the Colorado County Clerks Association, so The Sun asked the three candidates about how they would work with both.

ANDERSON: She said that all elections are local and thus maintaining good relationships with county clerks and recorders is paramount. “There is a regulatory role that’s appropriate as well, but making sure that we’re collaborating on resources, training, education and security (is critical),” Anderson said.

O’DONNELL: He said he’s been meeting with county clerks and believes the state is creating too much work for them in some areas, such as when it comes to motor vehicles and a new requirement from the legislature to sell park passes with vehicle registrations. He said he isn’t “connected with the County Clerk’s Association.”

PETERS: She said she disagrees with how the clerks association has handled the Mesa County controversy that ensued after she allegedly allowed an unauthorized person access to voting equipment and a sensitive election system software update. She implied that other clerks don’t understand the conspiracy she baselessly claims occurs between Griswold and Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which provided machines that process the vast majority of ballots in Colorado.

Individual questions for each candidate

The Sun asked Anderson about her role as a director of the Center for Technology and Civic Life, which distributed grants from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s foundation to local election offices around the country in 2020 to help defray costs brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. (She’s on leave from the organization while running for office.)

ANDERSON: She said she served with the center as a volunteer director, one of many volunteer roles she’s played “because of my expertise as a local election official.” ”I don’t know Mark Zuckerberg. Never met him. I’ve never been paid in these capacities,” she said.

O’Donnell is a political novice and the only Republican candidate for secretary of state without experience administering elections. We asked him how he’d handle being the state’s top election official.

O’DONNELL: He said he would join a national association for election officials and take online classes in election administration if he wins the primary. “A lot of the elections are handled by the county clerks and the system is well in place. There are a lot of rules that don’t make sense to me, there are a lot of things that just inflate the voter rolls and little issues we have with not removing people from the voter rolls.”

The Sun asked Peters how she could serve as secretary of state if she ends up being convicted of the charges against her, which could result in a prison sentence.

PETERS: “I will never plead guilty because I’ve committed no crime … This is a political maneuver to color the minds of the voters to keep me out of the Secretary of State’s Office,” she said. She said that if she were convicted and sentenced to prison she “will have in place in the Secretary of State’s Office … people that are trustworthy, that are honest, that are strong, that are capable — that can run that office.”

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.

ADAMS COUNTY BALLOT DROP BOXES

Current 24-Hour Ballot Drop Box Locations in Adams County include: - Adams County Government Center at 4430 S. Adams County Pkwy., Brighton - Adams County Human Services Center at 11860 Pecos St., Westminster - Adams County Justice Center at 1100 Judicial Center Dr., Brighton - Adams County Western Services Center at 12200 N. Pecos St., Westminster - Anythink Library Wright Farms at 5877 E. 120th Ave., Thornton - Aurora Motor Vehicle at 3449 Chambers Rd., Aurora - Aurora Municipal Center at 15151 E. Alameda Pkwy., Aurora - Bennett Motor Vehicle at 355 S. 1st St., Bennett - Brighton City Hall at 500 S. 4th Ave., Brighton - Colfax Community Network at 1585 Kingston St., Aurora - Commerce City Civic Center at 7887 E. 60th Ave., Denver - Commerce City Motor Vehicle at 7190 Colorado Blvd., Commerce City - Federal Heights City Hall at 2380 W. 90th Ave., Federal Heights - Front Range Community College at 3645 W. 112th Ave., Westminster - Hilltop Village Shopping Center at 13762 Colorado Blvd., Brighton - Kelver Public Library at 585 S. Main St., Byers - Margaret Carpenter Recreation Center at 11151 Colorado Blvd., Thornton - Martin Luther King, Jr. Library at 9898 E. Colfax Ave., Aurora - Northglenn City Hall at 11701 Community Center Dr., Northglenn - Perl Mack Community Center at 7125 Mariposa St., Denver - Riverdale Animal Shelter at 12155 Park Blvd., Brighton - Rotella Park at 1824 Coronado Pkwy. S., Denver - Strasburg Sheri ’s Substation at 2550 Strasburg Rd., Strasburg - Thornton Civic Center at 9500 Civic Center Dr., Thornton - Trail Winds Recreation Center at 13495 Holly St., Thornton - University of Colorado Anschutz Campus at 12477 E. 19th Ave., Aurora - Westminster City Hall at 4800 W. 92nd Ave., Westminster - Westminster Motor Vehicle at 8452 N. Federal Blvd., Westminster

For more information regarding the centers and Adams County elections, visit AdamsVotes.com.

This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.