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Tina Peters recall, Mesa County, Colorado (2020)
| Mesa County Clerk recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2020 Recalls in Colorado Colorado recall laws County official recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Tina Peters (R) from her position as the Mesa County Clerk in Colorado did not go to a vote in 2020. The effort was approved to circulate petitions on June 4, 2020, but recall supporters did not collect the required 12,192 signatures by August 3, 2020, to put the recall on the ballot.[1][2]
The recall petition included the following reasons for the recall effort: ballot errors in 2019 and 2020, discontinuing relationships with local municipalities, and not maintaining a trained staff.[1] Peters disputed the claims on the recall petition. She also said she was focusing on her work for the primary on June 30, 2020, and that a recall election could cost the county $200,000.[3][4]
Because Peters would normally have been the official overseeing the recall process, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners appointed Eagle County Treasurer Teak Simonton (D) to do so.[3] Peters filed a complaint against Simonton with the Colorado Secretary of State in June 2020.[5]
Peters was elected Mesa County Clerk in the general election on November 6, 2018. She defeated Bobbie Gross in the Republican primary and won unopposed in the general election.[6][7]
Recall supporters
The committee seeking to recall Peters included Amanda Polson, Bette Meininger, and Lynda Baxter. All three worked with the clerk's office in the past as either employees or contractors.[1]
The recall petition stated:
| “ | Tina Peters has repeatedly failed in her duties as Clerk & Recorder. Under her leadership, the clerk’s office has experienced the following deficiencies:
|
” |
“We continue to see things that make us greatly question her ability to be clerk and her ability to fill the role as clerk,” Polson said. “We believe she’s not capable of acting in the best interest of Mesa County as clerk and recorder. When you have employees turn over at the rate that she has had, there’s no way you can possibly stay on top of all the statutory functions required to do the job.”[9]
Recall opponents
In reaction to the allegation that the clerk's office failed to count over 500 ballots in the 2019 election, Peters said that human error occurred and she took responsibility for that. She said she implemented additional processes so that it would not happen again.[4]
In reaction to the allegation that one ballot style had 150% turnout, Peters said, "For this 'ballot style', there were only two voters. By law, to maintain anonymity of those two voters the Secretary of State directed the Elections Department to add a third ballot, resulting in the report showing a 150%."[4]
In reaction to the allegation of counting errors in the 2020 presidential primary, Peters said, "This happens occasionally during any election and per statute, given to the District Attorney's Office."[4]
Peters also said the allegations related to administrative errors on a candidate petition, increasing costs for municipalities due to discontinuing relationships, and not maintaining a full staff were false statements.[4]
Peters expressed concern that a Democrat from outside the county was appointed to oversee the recall effort of a Republican official. She said that she felt politics could get involved in the process.[10] “I don’t want to make this a partisan issue, but I think that the people of Mesa County elected me as a Republican candidate, and to bring in a Democrat … I’ve been getting calls all weekend about how outraged the citizens of Mesa County are that a duly elected, by-the-people clerk is trying to be recalled,” Peters said.[9]
Background
Recall committee files complaint with Colorado Secretary of State
The committee seeking to recall Peters filed a complaint with the Colorado Secretary of State on June 26, 2020, alleging that the Mesa County Clerk's Office had violated state election laws for the primary on June 30, 2020.[11] Amanda Polson, a member of the recall committee, said in a statement:
| “ | These complaints detail ways in which clerk Peters’ office has failed or is currently failing to meet statute and election laws. Complaints include their failure to properly test the Agilis machine that verifies thousands of voters’ signatures, properly print the ballot envelopes according to their approved election plan, process rejected ballots correctly as well as other processes and deadlines missed.[11][8] | ” |
Brandi Bantz, director of elections for Mesa County, refuted the allegations in the complaint. She said that the Agilis machine had been tested between March 30, 2020, and April 1, 2020, that ballot envelopes had been printed according to election rules, and that the clerk's office had met the necessary deadlines for the primary.[11] Peters also said the allegations were false.[12]
Peters files complaint against Simonton
Peters filed a complaint against Eagle County Treasurer Teak Simonton, who was appointed to oversee the recall process, with the Colorado Secretary of State in June 2020. “In her official capacity and using county resources, Ms. Simonton printed and assembled 263 recall petition sections, which included three separate versions and 1,452 pages. She then contributed these petition sections,” Peters said.[5]
Simonton acknowledged that she did print, assemble, and contribute the petition sections. She said that was her standard practice and that it made the petitions easier to deal with. Simonton said she contacted the state about her practice and decided to charge the recall committee $620 for the petition sections. Recall committee members said they planned to reimburse the county.[5]
Kevin McCarney, chairman of the Mesa County Republican Party, said that Simonton should resign. He said that the county commissioners should fire her if she does not.[5]
Simonton said she would not resign. “Everything I’ve done and will do is 100% transparent and verifiable,” she said. “Having been hired to do a job for the residents of Mesa County, I plan to continue operating with integrity as I have been to this point.”[5]
The Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office issued a notice to the county on July 1, 2020, saying that Simonton's actions could be considered a campaign finance issue. The notice said that the issue was curable if recall supporters paid for the petitions Simonton had printed. Recall supporters paid $620 for the petitions.[13]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Colorado
The recall petition was approved for circulation on June 4, 2020. To get the recall on the ballot, recall supporters had to collect 12,192 signatures (25% of the vote Peters received in her 2018 election) from registered voters in Mesa County by 5 p.m. on August 3, 2020.[1][9] They did not collect enough signatures by the deadline.[2]
See also
- Mesa County, Colorado
- Recall campaigns in Colorado
- Political recall efforts, 2020
- County official recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Daily Sentinel, "Petition wording OK'd for Peters recall," June 5, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Colorado Sun, "The attempted recall of Mesa County’s clerk comes up short. But the battle over her office isn’t over." August 3, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Western Slope Now, "Organizer Behind Clerk Recall Petition Speaks Out," June 2, 2020
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Facebook, "Tina Peters post on June 18, 2020," accessed July 1, 2020
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 The Daily Sentinel, "Peters files complaint against recall overseer," June 23, 2020
- ↑ Mesa County Clerk, "Election Summary Report: Closed Primary Mesa June 26, 2018," accessed June 15, 2020
- ↑ Mesa County Clerk, "Election Summary Report: General Election Mesa County November 06, 2018," accessed June 15, 2020
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 The Daily Sentinel, "Commissioners name elections expert to oversee recall of Tina Peters," June 2, 2020
- ↑ Western Slope Now, "Embattled Clerk Speaks Out About Recall Beginning," June 2, 2020
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Daily Sentinel, "Recall committee files complaint against clerk's office," June 27, 2020
- ↑ Facebook, "Tina Peters post on June 26, 2020," accessed July 1, 2020
- ↑ The Daily Sentinel, "Clerk wants county to hire her an outside attorney due to recall," July 14, 2020
