Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold Being Sued for: Not Legally Certifying 2020 Election; Illegally Destroying Records; and, Creating Law Specifying Only Certain Unknown Individuals Can Audit Voting Machines

An election audit in Colorado between a citizen and Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold was filed in November. The case requests as relief a full, independent forensic audit of the voting systems in Colorado.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold was sued over the destruction of election records, failure to properly test voting equipment, and obstruction of independent election audits. The relief sought in this case is a full, independent forensic audit of Colorado voting systems and the 2020 election in Colorado.

In the filing to the case, Hanks asserts the following:

WHEREFORE, on their First Claim for Relief, Plaintiffs pray that this Honorable Court enter judgment declaring that Defendant violated C.R.S. § 1-5-608.5 by failing to have Colorado voting systems tested by a federally accredited laboratory before the 2020 election. Plaintiffs pray that the Court enter judgment that an independent forensic audit is necessary to determine whether the voting systems meet legal standards, and whether the systems accurately recorded the votes of the people of Colorado in the 2020 election. Plaintiffs pray that the Court order the Defendant to pay the costs of such audit. Because of the importance of this case to the voters of Colorado, Plaintiffs pray for advancement on the docket and accelerated discovery pursuant to C.R.C.P. 57 (m). Plaintiffs pray for an award of costs, expert witness fees, reasonable attorney fees, and all other appropriate relief.

In this portion of the case, Hanks argues that the voting machines in Colorado weren’t properly certified by certified auditors per state law. The same situation occurred in Arizona. The TGP reported that the auditors in Arizona hadn’t been properly certified prior to the 2020 Election, therefore, nullifying any certifications they made before the 2020 Election.

The second point that Hanks makes is that the Secretary of State destroyed election records. Hanks states:

“Forensic examination found that election records, including data described in the Federal Election Commission’s 2002 Voting System Standards (VSS) mandated by Colorado law as certification requirements for Colorado voting systems, have been destroyed on Mesa County’s voting system, by the system vendor and the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. Because similar system modifications were reportedly performed upon county election servers across the state, it is possible, if not likely, that such data destruction in violation of state and federal law has occurred in numerous other counties.”

The third point from Hanks is that a recent law that Griswold put into place, despite unanimous pushback prevents independent election audits. [If this is allowed to stay there will never be independent, adequate, and honest election audits in Colorado]. An example of recent issues in the state where the machines should be audited is given in the case.

In the most recent election, November 2, 2021, the El Paso County clerk’s office transmitted election data to Defendant’s website using an internet connection. As batches of votes were transmitted, the total votes counted increased on Defendant’s website by approximately 20 per cent. This happened twice. The El Paso County Clerk telephoned Defendant’s office. Defendant’s office was unaware that its website was showing inflated vote totals from El Paso County. Defendant’s office and the El Paso County Clerk agreed to manually decrease the vote totalsthat had been transmitted by the voting system.

See the entire filing below.

Colorado 2020 Election Results Hanks-V-Griswold by Jim Hoft on Scribd