Consultant, claiming White House backing, called Colorado clerks to seek access to voting machines

A consultant claiming to work for the White House called several Republican county clerks in Colorado last week seeking third-party access to secure voting equipment electoral process agents described The Denver Post At least Republican clerks were contacted by consultant Jeff Small officers announced Wednesday Small who has Colorado political connections communicated the clerks that he was working on the project for the White House and the U S departments of Justice and Homeland Shield and he announced he demanded the clerks to let an outside party access voting equipment to identify gaps He also requested access because President Donald Trump s administration was frustrated with the slow rollout of an executive order issued earlier this year Trump s order sought greater federal control over elections though a federal court last month blocked it All of the clerks contacted by Small rejected the request ballot authorities reported Unauthorized access to voting equipment is illegal under state law and for several clerks the request directly prompted thoughts that it amounted to the type of conduct that sank former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters who s now serving a prison sentence I m sitting here going There s a person spending nine years in prison here in Colorado for doing the exact same thing noted Steve Schleiker the clerk and recorder in El Paso County Small connected Schleiker with a Homeland Safety official who sought access that Schlieker likened to hacking into voting equipment Justin Grantham the clerk and recorder in Fremont County declared Small called him July and was looking for Republican clerks in Democratic states that would be willing to work with the White House and the Department of Justice for bringing a third party to evaluate the guard of voting equipment All of the clerks contacted use Dominion voting machines commented Matt Crane the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association Dominion has been the target of extensive and repeatedly debunked asserts of rigging with the polling which President Donald Trump lost Small also works for the Group a prominent conservative population affairs firm based in Denver and earlier was the chief of staff for Colorado s U S Rep Lauren Boebert His calls to the clerks were first informed Wednesday morning by the Washington Post In a report to The Post Small disclosed Wednesday that he was approached by functionaries working on the President s executive order to improve polling safety and they solicited him to connect them with a limited local county clerks to get their input on this essential effort He was happy to do so he disclosed because of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold s prevention debacles He stated he was not paid for the outreach calling it a volunteer connection effort that he did in his spare time Small declined to answer follow-up questions by phone and did not at once respond to written questions In an interview Griswold disclosed that to her knowledge no one had contacted Republican clerks in any other Democratic state seeking similar access The Department of Justice had previously sent Griswold s office a request for extensive voting content also unique among states Griswold a Democrat and the state s top electoral process official revealed anyone seeking access to equipment must get clearance including through a background check and they must agree to several assurance protocols It could lead to a felony conviction and imprisonment she revealed of Small s request for third-party access That s where unauthorized access to voting equipment leads It leads to counties where that happens having to spend a lot of money to replace their voting equipment and face likely criminal liability Before working for Boebert Small was appointed by Trump to work in the U S Department of the Interior He joined the Group earlier this year according to Colorado Politics Small is also a registered federal lobbyist whose clients include four Colorado counties including at least one that he contacted as part of his quest for access to electoral process equipment Boebert s office did not return a message seeking comment Nor did Josh Penry the head of the Group Messages sent to the White House and the Justice Department were not right away returned In a declaration an unnamed spokesperson for the Homeland Defense Department commented that the agency daily works with our local partners to make sure our elections remain safe We don t disclose every single conversation we have with them Schleiker disclosed Small called him July They spoke briefly and Small complimented El Paso County on its polling integrity efforts With Schleiker s permission Small gave the clerk s phone number to an official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Measure Agency which is part of Homeland Safety That official then called looking for partners to test the balloting voting equipment to see if there s any gaps I was like Oh Schleiker explained The federal establishment has no jurisdiction over local voting equipment he announced and he explained the official to call the Colorado Secretary of State s Office or the U S Electoral process Assistance Commission El Paso County is in a very unique position because we re the bulk populous county we have the greater part proceeding voters we re just shy of current voters so the majority of in the state and we re still considered pretty conservative Schleiker reported And with this administration Hey let s reach out to the largest and preponderance conservative county which is El Paso But the thing is No Uh-uh Not at all But in a call that same day Small communicated Grantham in Fremont County that El Paso County had agreed to provide access to equipment Grantham declared Related Articles Trump slams his own supporters as weaklings for falling for what he now calls the Epstein hoax Trump s and Bergum s fear of U S history makes them snowflakes Letters Pentagon ends deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles What to know about Good Trouble Lives On rallies honoring John Lewis Trump tells Texas Republicans to redraw the state congressional map to help keep House majority I knew El Paso County was not on board but what he informed me was they re on board like if one goes all should go Grantham noted I knew better Crane the head of the clerks association mentioned clerks began calling him about Small s outreach last week Crane stated that Small explained a few clerks that he was working on behalf of Stephen Miller Trump s deputy chief of staff and a prominent booster of Trump s false proposes of voting process fraud Dominion was also mentioned in one of the calls Crane commented Grantham announced he suspected that the administration may have thought there were other Republican clerks in Colorado who shared Peters beliefs and may be willing to grant access to voting equipment But clerks have been resolute in refusing Small s request Crane revealed I m not aware of anything in federal law that would give them the ability to do this he reported It doesn t matter if it s the greatest cyber ninjas or particular guy in a basement or the federal executive If they don t have a legal reason to be near these systems they re not getting near these systems Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot