When watchdogs reached out, only two clerks answered: Colorado’s election crisis exposed

By Bill Lehman, Heidi Ganahl | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Colorado’s election system is facing a crisis of confidence, with voters increasingly skeptical due to incidents like Arapahoe County’s mishandled 2020 Cast Vote Record and the Secretary of State’s office leaking 600 BIOS passwords during the 2024 election. Leaking 600 BIOS passwords is the civic version of leaving the house key under the doormat and then posting a photo of the doormat.

These failures, alongside persistent reports of irregularities, undermine the narrative that Colorado’s elections are the “gold standard.” 

Public trust continues to erode as evidence of vulnerabilities mounts, yet one county’s efforts illustrate how clerks can make important improvements—though systemic issues demand far broader action.

In late May 2025, the Colorado Institute for Fair Elections (COIFFE), a nonpartisan volunteer group, wrote to every clerk and recorder in all 64 counties. The ask was simple: meet, walk through five critical weaknesses, and talk solutions about:

1. Inaccurate voter rolls.
2. Audits not fully compliant with generally accepted government standards (Grading your own tax return with a smiley face sticker).
3. Restricted public access to election records.
4. How ballots are tracked inside election offices, but once they’re mailed, the chain of custody breaks until they come back (A sealed pizza box matters, but so does who carried it from the oven to your door).
5. Inadequate drop box video surveillance. 

COIFFE requested meetings to discuss these shortfalls, propose solutions, and offer support. 

The response was telling. Only two counties engaged—Lake County with fewer than 6,000 voters and El Paso County with more than 565,000. Sixty-two said nothing. That’s like a school’s fire alarm going off and only one classroom lined up at the door.

Only El Paso County Clerk Steve Schleiker agreed to engage, providing a four-page email outlining his office’s initiatives since his 2022 election.

Schleiker’s efforts include an innovative partnership with Sensara Camera Systems for enhanced drop box surveillance and also using Experian’s voter verification tools, which led to the cancellation of 51,325 invalid voter registrations, saving $170,000 in ballot printing and mailing costs since 2023. 

His office adopted a Ballot Verifier tool from Civera and switched to K&H Integrated Print Solutions for ballot printing, citing improved reliability and better ballot tracking through the postal system. 

In 2023, El Paso County replaced all tabulation machines with models lacking network or Wi-Fi capabilities, secured with serialized tamper-evident USB port locks and wire seals to prevent unauthorized access. Vote count transfers to the state’s real-time reporting system utilize single-use, 10-code secure flash drives, overseen by bipartisan election judges, ensuring no drive reenters the tabulation room. 

Schleiker also secured $104,000 in federal HAVA Grant Program funds to bolster election infrastructure, showing resourcefulness amid tight budgets.

The July 30 meeting with COIFFE highlighted Schleiker’s proactive stance but also underscored the limits of one county’s efforts against statewide deficiencies. 

Schleiker described some COIFFE recommendations, like stronger chain of custody protocols, as “common sense,” yet their absence in most counties raises serious concerns. Broader issues persist, as evidenced by Heidi Ganahl’s two-year investigation, detailed by Rocky Mountain Voice. 

Ganahl, the 2022 gubernatorial candidate, uncovered troubling vulnerabilities, particularly in Douglas County. Her team found wireless networking cards in voting system computers—certified by the Secretary of State despite the risks of unauthorized remote access. You might as well call it ‘airplane mode’ when the Wi-Fi light is still blinking.

In the 2022 election, Ganahl identified discrepancies, including over 18,000 undeliverable ballots across nine counties—3,300 in Douglas County alone—with no matching USPS invoice records. Low-quality, misaimed drop box cameras and unreviewed footage further weakened oversight. In Douglas County, the recount was run solely by county election staff after Secretary of State Jena Griswold convinced the clerk not to let the canvass board oversee it, even though state law gives the board that duty.

When Ganahl’s team sought to review ballots via a Colorado Open Records Act request, they faced a $212,000 invoice—red tape priced like fine art.

Ganahl’s findings echo COIFFE’s concerns, amplifying voter distrust. 

She highlighted lax signature verification, as seen in Mesa County, where 12 fraudulent ballots were accepted in 2022. The Secretary of State’s refusal to release reports on potential dead voter ballots further fuels suspicion. 

All of it adds up. The 2024 password leak, Arapahoe’s 2020 mess, and the gaps Ganahl flagged point to the same thing: trust breaks when systems leave blind spots. 

El Paso shows what a fix can look like. It doesn’t fix the rest of the map.

For voters questioning election integrity, El Paso County’s efforts show what’s possible but highlight how far Colorado remains from a trustworthy system. Sixty-two counties heard the doorbell and didn’t check the porch.

The silence from 62 other counties suggests either complacency or resistance to scrutiny, deepening public unease. Uniform, transparent reforms are urgently needed to address these concerns and restore confidence. 

To the Clerks and Recorders of the 62 counties that have not responded, COIFFE urges you to engage with our request for a meeting. The problems COIFFE and Ganahl flagged won’t fix themselves. When the check engine light flashes, you don’t cover it with tape. You pull over and deal with it.

Start there. Open the books. Walk through the process with the public. Actively work to rebuild voter trust. If your kid’s school lost track of the report cards, you’d ask questions. Elections deserve at least that much. 

Pick up the phone, set a time, and work with COIFFE to show voters that every ballot cast in Colorado gets accurately counted.

The Colorado Institute for Fair Elections (COIFFE) is a non-partisan volunteer group working to improve election integrity across Colorado. Its executive committee members include Bob Cooper, Heidi Ganahl, Marc Gitlitz, Bill Lehman, Mark Milliman, John Murino and Michael Raish. They work with other volunteers to focus on cleaning up voter rolls and ensuring that only legal voters are participating in elections.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.