Colorado
Opinion: The Big Lie’s big objective: weakening Colorado election system.
People are witnessing an unprecedented right-wing ideological try to undermine confidence in our American elections. We’ve got watched as different states and Washington, D.C. have confronted assaults on our election safety — all led by the Republican Occasion. And now it’s come to Colorado.
Over and over, we’ve seen the Colorado Republican Occasion throw open its doorways to election-security misinformation and place proponents of the Huge Lie entrance and middle at each alternative. The one actual election safety threats have come from indicted Republican County Clerk Tina Peters.
Early this month, a whole bunch gathered for the so-called “Election Fact Rally” organized by election conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — however the rally was not just a few far-right fringe one-off occasion. It was carefully adopted by the Republican state meeting, which formally elevated conspiracy candidates like State Rep. Ron Hanks, Tina Peters, and former mayor Greg Lopez to the GOP major poll.
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These are the following levels in a threatening, coordinated effort to weaken our elections system in Colorado.
No Republican candidate, nor the Colorado Republican get together, has disavowed John Eastman, a earlier visiting CU Boulder professor, who was the architect of the plan to make use of the January sixth certification of state election outcomes to flip the presidential election to Donald Trump, and continues to be making efforts to flip the 2020 election. Eastman additionally was the first lawyer in a lawsuit by Rep. Hanks and different GOP officers to maintain unaffiliated voters out of the Republican major; the lawsuit has been dismissed by a choose.
As an alternative of rejecting individuals like Eastman, the El Paso County Republicans, a Colorado GOP stronghold, invited January 6 revolt defender and election denier Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to talk.
The chair of the state Republican get together, Kristi Burton Brown — who was recognized in courtroom testimony as one-time chief of a bunch looking for to show election conspiracy — has mentioned she desires to maneuver on from claims of 2020 election fraud. Nonetheless, she has taken little to no motion to carry Peters or Hanks accountable for his or her roles in selling violence and harmful election conspiracies.
As an alternative, Burton Brown truly invited Consultant Andy Biggs of Arizona to be the keynote speaker for the statewide GOP’s largest annual fundraiser on April eighth. Biggs is a nationwide voice on election conspiracies and promoted the bogus ‘forensic audit’ of Arizona’s 2020 elections.
Over and over, we’re seeing harmful help for election fraud from Colorado Republicans and an absence of readability on what they plan to do if they’re elected. This haziness leads us to marvel concerning the worst potential outcomes within the title of “election integrity.”
Will they cease mail-in voting? The GOP state delegates endorsed that in a decision at their meeting on April ninth.
What subsequent? Heidi Ganahl, a Republican candidate for governor, has already declared that the group U.S. Election Integrity Plan – whose armed volunteers have been reportedly harassing voters about their 2020 ballots – is “doing nice issues.”
Will they take away drop-off poll containers and return to lengthy traces on the polls? Will they take away you from voting registration lists with out trigger?
Their actions thus far have confirmed that the GOP is reckless. We’ve got the nation’s gold-standard for secure elections, however that isn’t stopping the election deniers from coming for Colorado’s trusted system, too.
We all know the reality. County Clerks assembled in Denver on April third to remind all Coloradans that no legit proof of fraud or irregularities in our 2020 election has come to gentle. Moreover, we’ve got audit methods already in place to provide us confidence in our elections.
Not all conspiracy theories are innocent. That’s why we’ve got to push again with one voice and say: “Sufficient.” If the chair of the GOP gained’t absolutely denounce the election-denying wing of the get together and even promotes it, who will get up and converse the reality? Which Republicans might be principled sufficient to face as much as and disempower a pillow salesman’s lies?
If you happen to’re represented by a Republican in Congress or the state Normal Meeting, name and ask them the place they stand. Something in need of agency help for the confirmed safety of Colorado’s elections is help for misinformation and disinformation. Coloradans need to know the place each Republican stands.
I can say unequivocally that Democrats will proceed to take care of a gentle hand defending our elections, the appropriate to vote, and can unite Colorado as an alternative of dividing it over fallacies and disinformation. Every other course isn’t just irresponsible–it’s harmful.
Morgan Carroll, of Aurora, is chair of the Colorado Democratic Occasion.
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