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Allegations of Improper Spending Mount Against Bennet Campaign
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Allegations of Improper Spending Mount Against Bennet Campaign

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Three state campaign finance complaints have been filed against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, tied to his campaign for governor in 2026. A fourth is likely, sources have told Colorado Politics. The first two were filed on Sept. 24 and on Nov. 4 by Alyssa Holladay of Denver. Her political affiliation is unknown. The first two complaints were consolidated by the secretary of state’s elections division on Nov. 17. A response is due from the Bennet campaign on Dec. 3. The September complaint said Bennet is a candidate for both governor in 2026 and for the U.S. Senate in 2028 and he is actively fundraising and spending money for both races. Bennet, the complaint noted, filed a candidate affidavit for the Senate race on March 11, 2...
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AI Review Flags Hundreds of Reporting Gaps for Griswold and Weiser Campaigns
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

AI Review Flags Hundreds of Reporting Gaps for Griswold and Weiser Campaigns

By: Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Using artificial intelligence as analytical tool, a resident of Longmont has filed complaints against two prominent Colorado Democrats, alleging multiple campaign finance violations. The complaints are among a growing number of campaign finance allegations against individuals running for some of Colorado’s top jobs. What’s unique with the complaints is the use of AI as a data or analytical tool. On Nov. 20, Jeffrey Ethan Au Green of Longmont filed a complaint against Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet. Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is running to succeed Weiser, was the subject of a Nov. 2 complaint, also filed by Au Green. Four Democrats ar...
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The numbers didn’t match: El Paso’s canvass exposes a statewide reporting failure the state never explained
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The numbers didn’t match: El Paso’s canvass exposes a statewide reporting failure the state never explained

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado voters expected a routine post–Election Day canvass after the November 4 coordinated election. Instead, El Paso County became ground zero for the latest crisis involving Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office after a canvass board member noticed that the numbers on the state’s website didn’t match the county’s certified reports. The mismatch surfaced publicly after businessman and election analyst Peter Bernegger posted screenshots of the Election Night Reporting (ENR) CSV file on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/PeterBernegger/status/1991610012989329540?s=20 What began as one discrepancy quickly revealed a statewide reporting failure. The ENR CSV file published by the Secretary of State contained contest-level totals that ...
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On the five-year anniversary of 2020, Michigan court moves goalposts on attorneys who exposed Antrim County’s machines
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

On the five-year anniversary of 2020, Michigan court moves goalposts on attorneys who exposed Antrim County’s machines

By A.L. Goodwin | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Five years after the 2020 election, Michigan courts are still litigating its aftermath. At the center are two attorneys, Stefanie Lambert and Matt DePerno, who led the Antrim County lawsuit that first exposed errors in the county’s vote tabulation. What began as a civil discovery dispute has now turned into a criminal prosecution—one that critics say rewrites the law after the fact and redefines ordinary litigation as “unauthorized possession” of election equipment. On November 3, 2025—the five-year mark of the 2020 election—the Michigan prosecution of attorneys Matt DePerno and Stephanie Lambert took a troubling turn. The Oakland County Circuit Court order (Case No. 2023-285759-FH) leaves no question where the balance tilts. J...
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When the prosecutor is also the judge: Colorado’s due process problem under Griswold’s watch
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

When the prosecutor is also the judge: Colorado’s due process problem under Griswold’s watch

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I wouldn’t blame someone for thinking the fix is in at a Colorado Administrative Law hearing (especially in the SOS’s Office). If you break one of our state regulatory agencies’ copious rules, the process for our state’s administrative hearings bears little resemblance to a real trial. I recently did some looking into the state’s administrative hearings process, and was disappointed in what I found.The idea of this being a hearing in front of an independent, nominally-impartial, and disinterested judge is decidedly NOT what the process looks like.This goes, as you might imagine for an office run by Jena Griswold, double for the Secretary of State’s Office.More in the op ed below.https://completecolorado.com/2025/09/22/p...
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Colorado Officials Block GOP Pick for House Seat Over Vacancy Rule Dispute
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Officials Block GOP Pick for House Seat Over Vacancy Rule Dispute

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office told the GOP vacancy committee in House District 14 that its members did not get 10 days of notice ahead of making their appointment as is required by state law. State elections officials Monday rejected a Republican vacancy committee’s pick for a seat in the Colorado legislature, finding that the panel didn’t follow state law in making the selection.  The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office told the GOP vacancy committee in House District 14 that its members did not get 10 days of notice ahead the gathering to make their appointment as is required by state law. The committee was picking a replacement for former House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese. She resigned Sept. 15. The vacancy vote was he...
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Has AI Begun Transforming Employment in the Colorado Legal Services Industry?
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Has AI Begun Transforming Employment in the Colorado Legal Services Industry?

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The two biggest ongoing threats to democracy in Colorado are the less-than-competent Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, and Colorado’s Supreme Court. You will recall that last year both blocked the inclusion of Donald Trump’s name on the November 2024 presidential ballot in Colorado only to have the nation’s Supreme Court definitively overrule both. I didn’t notice anyone getting into trouble or apologizing for those blatant attacks on democracy but it managed to get me thinking (no mean feat) about the legal profession in general and whether it was changing in Colorado in the face of artificial intelligence (AI). Admittedly, I’m personally not a big fan of AI because, just like history, it is crafted by the victors / the ...
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Gold standard or clear failure? Colorado trails 36 nations on election rules.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Gold standard or clear failure? Colorado trails 36 nations on election rules.

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado’s election rulebook emphasizes convenience—automatic mail ballots, long voting windows and ballot harvesting—exactly where most countries draw hard lines. That philosophical split is why Colorado lands at 50 out of 100 in a new international survey, and why the authors behind it want an on-the-record conversation with the secretary of state. “We’d love to speak with your secretary of state… we’ll ask questions and she can ask questions,” said Gary Meyers, who co-authored the study with Jay DeLancy. Meyers explained that The Meyers Report is a long-running research group, active for more than forty years, with contributors spread across 30 countries. “We’re interested in truth, we’re interested in fairness,” he said, describing a team...
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Colorado election results may violate 1946 Secret Ballots Amendment
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado election results may violate 1946 Secret Ballots Amendment

By Mike O’Donnell | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Colorado Constitution guarantees the right for citizens to vote in secret.  Article VII, Section 8 states that all elections by the people shall be by ballot, and no ballots shall be marked in any way that would allow the ballot to be identified as the ballot of a particular person. And in 1946, Colorado voters approved the Secret Ballots Amendment that explicitly provided for secret ballots.  However, if a voter voluntarily shares how he or she voted, they may do so. Colorado Revised Statute §1-13-712 says that any voter who makes available an image of the voter’s own ballot through electronic means, after it is prepared for voting, is deemed to have consented to the transmittal of that image. So i...
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When watchdogs reached out, only two clerks answered: Colorado’s election crisis exposed
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

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...
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