The Valley is different. That became evident again Monday when local election officials pushed back against claims that federal elections are rigged and vote counts inaccurate.
A group of local Republicans pressed the San Luis Valley Commissioners Association to end county contracts with Dominion Voting Systems out of concerns about computer software and “globalist regimes” working behind the scenes to steal elections.
“The citizens of the San Luis Valley of Colorado and of these United States of America have the constitutional right to free and fair elections that we the people are confident they are free and fair. The current systems in place here in each county in the San Luis Valley and Colorado do not afford us this confidence,” said Maureen Smith, a resident of Rio Grande County.
“I don’t trust the computers or the programmers that create the software. I myself do not believe that they need to be connected to the internet to be able to give us whatever results those programmers want to get. And so it just tells me that if they want a certain outcome, the programmers know how to do it. And so there is a lack of trust,” said Cheryl O’Dowd, chair of the Alamosa County GOP.
The responses came from Alamosa County Clerk and Recorder Mari Felix and Alamosa County Elections chief Terry Carver, among others. Neither accepted the claim of faulty elections. Both made the record clear that vote counts in local elections are accurate, and if there is any trouble with vote counting it comes through human error, not with computers.
“I believe Colorado has the most accurate and secure elections,” Carver said. “And you may shake your head, but not all states do. I can’t speak for any of the other states, but Colorado has a logic and accuracy test. The risk limiting audit after that count. So I’m not sure how somebody can manipulate a system that is not connected to the internet ever and to manipulate something that is going to be audited after the fact.”
Saguache County Commissioner Tom McCracken, who chairs the SLV Commissioners meetings, said most of the issues county commissioners handle are of a non-partisan nature and he was frustrated that an issue like election conspiracies made its way onto the agenda.
“We don’t look at each other as R’s (Republicans) and D’s (Democrats) and I’s (Independents),” said former Alamosa City Councilman Charlie Griego. “We’re family. Here we are, and to bring the chaos from the federal level down here to divide us is wrong. So let’s be careful about that. We look around each other, we address each other, we talk to each other. The chaos at the federal level is wrong and to bring it down here to the Valley and divide our communities and our Valley is wrong.”
Other than Rio Grande County Commissioners, who had moved earlier this summer to ditch Dominion Voting Systems, there weren’t any other groups of county commissioners buying into the local GOP claims.
The San Luis Valley Commissioners meet quarterly on issues common to the six counties of Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache.Read more election news from AlamosaCitizen.com.