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 referendum officers advised The Denver Post At least Republican clerks were contacted by consultant Jeff Small administrators mentioned Wednesday Small who has Colorado political connections advised the clerks that he was working on the project for the White House and the U S departments of Justice and Homeland Precaution and he explained he craved 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 referendum administrators announced Unauthorized access to voting equipment is illegal under state law and for a few 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 announced Steve Schleiker the clerk and recorder in El Paso County Small connected Schleiker with a Homeland Prevention 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 shield of voting equipment All of the clerks contacted use Dominion voting machines announced Matt Crane the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association Dominion has been the target of extensive and repeatedly debunked suggests of rigging with the electoral process which President Donald Trump lost Small also works for the Group a prominent conservative masses 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 shared Wednesday morning by the Washington Post In a message to The Post Small disclosed Wednesday that he was approached by functionaries working on the President s executive order to improve polling guard and they sought him to connect them with a insufficient local county clerks to get their input on this significant effort He was happy to do so he revealed because of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold s safety debacles He revealed 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 instantly respond to written questions In an interview Griswold announced 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 input also unique among states Griswold a Democrat and the state s top vote official mentioned anyone seeking access to equipment must get clearance including through a background check and they must agree to several defense protocols It could lead to a felony conviction and imprisonment she disclosed 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 probable 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 contest 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 at once returned In a declaration an unnamed spokesperson for the Homeland Safety Department mentioned 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 noted Small called him July They spoke briefly and Small complimented El Paso County on its electoral contest integrity efforts With Schleiker s permission Small gave the clerk s phone number to an official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Shield Agency which is part of Homeland Protection That official then called looking for partners to test the voting voting equipment to see if there s any gaps I was like Oh Schleiker disclosed The federal leadership has no jurisdiction over local voting equipment he declared and he notified the official to call the Colorado Secretary of State s Office or the U S Referendum Assistance Commission El Paso County is in a very unique position because we re the greater part populous county we have the the greater part proceeding voters we re just shy of proceeding voters so the most of in the state and we re still considered pretty conservative Schleiker disclosed And with this administration Hey let s reach out to the largest and the bulk conservative county which is El Paso But the thing is No Uh-uh Not at all But in a call that same day Small reported Grantham in Fremont County that El Paso County had agreed to provide access to equipment Grantham announced 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 explained I knew better Crane the head of the clerks association commented clerks began calling him about Small s outreach last week Crane explained that Small described selected clerks that he was working on behalf of Stephen Miller Trump s deputy chief of staff and a prominent booster of Trump s false insists of polling fraud Dominion was also mentioned in one of the calls Crane reported Grantham disclosed 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 disclosed I m not aware of anything in federal law that would give them the ability to do this he disclosed It doesn t matter if it s the greatest cyber ninjas or specific guy in a basement or the federal establishment 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