Colorado Clerks Call For Election Changes Including Posting All Ballots Cast Online

DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado's election systems are often described as the gold standard, but the state's county clerks say we can do even better. The Colorado County Clerks Association is calling for improvements to everything from the accuracy of voter rolls to signature verification.

The association is made up of Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated clerks. They say the changes are not a reaction to Donald Trump supporters who've demanded an audit of ballots and voting equipment.

While Secretary of State Jena Griswold issued an emergency rule barring outside groups from accessing the state's voting equipment, the clerks say voters should have the ability to verify election results themselves.

Pueblo County Clerk Bo Ortiz set up a link to every ballot cast in the county in 2020 so skeptics could tally the votes themselves.

"We think this is a step in the right direction to approach transparency."

The CCCA has asked the Secretary of State's Office to come up with an automated process for redacting identifying information on ballots. Ortiz says it took his staff a month and a half to make redactions.

Clerks also want more transparency and uniformity around signature verification.

"We already have some audits in place, however we want to beef it up and be able to be very consistent across all 64 counties," said Weld County Clerk Carly Koppes.

Right now, she says, there's no formal audit process for signature verification judges like there is for voting machines. The clerks say there should be. Voter rolls, they say, should also be audited at the state and county levels to make sure the databases being used to check addresses and death records, for example, are accurate.

"We want stronger ways to look in there and know all the information is correct," said Ortiz.

Clerks also want more money. Koppes says many counties rely on grants from election nonprofits. Some other states have banned money from outside groups to fund elections.

Koppes says, "They really need to be funded through the proper channels at the proper level."

Koppes, a Republican, and Ortiz, a Democrat, say no amount of change will satisfy the cynics who have gone so far as to issue death threats against some clerks, but Koppes says, they won't let that deter them either.

"Colorado is the best, and we want to continue to be the best."

Secretary of State Jena Griswold released a statement in response to the clerks' ideas saying, "We have the best elections systems in the country and always look forward to working to improve them with partners across the state and country."

Koppes and Ortiz, who head up the Clerk's Association, say, while they want the secretary's help, they are also prepared to make changes - to the degree they can - on their own.