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 notified The Denver Post At least Republican clerks were contacted by consultant Jeff Small personnel 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 declared he needed 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 poll authorities stated Unauthorized access to voting equipment is illegal under state law and for certain clerks the request promptly 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 mentioned Steve Schleiker the clerk and recorder in El Paso County Small connected Schleiker with a Homeland Measure official who sought access that Schlieker likened to hacking into voting equipment Justin Grantham the clerk and recorder in Fremont County announced 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 measure 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 alleges of rigging with the referendum which President Donald Trump lost Small also works for the Group a prominent conservative citizens 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 revealed Wednesday morning by the Washington Post In a report to The Post Small revealed Wednesday that he was approached by authorities working on the President s executive order to improve voting precaution and they urged him to connect them with a sparse local county clerks to get their input on this essential effort He was happy to do so he mentioned because of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold s prevention debacles He announced 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 right away 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 statistics also unique among states Griswold a Democrat and the state s top polling official reported anyone seeking access to equipment must get clearance including through a background check and they must agree to several safeguard protocols It could lead to a felony conviction and imprisonment she announced 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 prospective 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 straightaway returned In a report an unnamed spokesperson for the Homeland Protection Department stated 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 announced Small called him July They spoke briefly and Small complimented El Paso County on its ballot integrity efforts With Schleiker s permission Small gave the clerk s phone number to an official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safeguard Agency which is part of Homeland Prevention That official then called looking for partners to test the voting process voting equipment to see if there s any gaps I was like Oh Schleiker stated The federal establishment has no jurisdiction over local voting equipment he stated and he described 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 preponderance developing voters we re just shy of advancing voters so the the greater part in the state and we re still considered pretty conservative Schleiker announced 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 stated Grantham in Fremont County that El Paso County had agreed to provide access to equipment Grantham commented 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 reported me was they re on board like if one goes all should go Grantham reported I knew better Crane the head of the clerks association declared clerks began calling him about Small s outreach last week Crane disclosed that Small described particular clerks that he was working on behalf of Stephen Miller Trump s deputy chief of staff and a prominent booster of Trump s false alleges of voting process fraud Dominion was also mentioned in one of the calls Crane announced Grantham revealed 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 commented I m not aware of anything in federal law that would give them the ability to do this he explained It doesn t matter if it s the greatest cyber ninjas or specific guy in a basement or the federal authorities 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