Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced the lawsuit on February 17 against Dallas Schroeder, the Elbert County clerk and recorder. As part of the lawsuit, Schroeder will be required to provide evidence and answer questions regarding allegations that he copied and sent photos of the county’s voting system hard drives. According to The Colorado Sun, Schroeder allegedly received help from two non-election colleagues, identified by the news site as Sean Smith and Mark Cook. Both of these colleagues were allegedly involved in groups that spread debunked election conspiracies, Reuters added.
“Critical information regarding the unauthorized imaging of Elbert County’s voting system hard drives has not been disclosed by Clerk Schroeder and the copies of the hard drives still are in the hands of unauthorized people,” said Griswold in a statement.
This will not be the first time that the two have faced off against each other in court. Schroeder, along with Douglas County Clerk Merlin Klotz and Representative Ron Hanks, sued Griswold and accused her of destroying election records during the 2020 presidential election, The Colorado Sun reported. The secretary of state has denied these claims. Multiple independent inquiries into this claim have proven that the election was fairly won by President Joe Biden.
Schroeder has already admitted to copying voting machine hard drives. He described the copying as his “statutory duty” related to preserving election records, Colorado Politics reported. He has maintained that the only copies of these drives were given to private attorneys and no other groups.
Despite the admission, Schroeder has allegedly not been cooperative with the secretary of state’s office in its lawsuit, Denver’s KDVR reported, leading Griswold to continue the suit.
“That is why I am moving forward with this legal action,” Griswold said in her statement. “I will continue to uphold Colorado election law and protect our election system. As secretary of state, I will always protect the right of every eligible Republican, Democrat, and unaffiliated voter to cast a ballot in accessible and secure elections.”
As for Smith and Cook, they are also being subject to scrutiny by the secretary of state’s office. As part of the orders made by Griswold, Schroeder must provide “any and all communications, including, but not limited to, text messages, emails or voicemails” between him and the two men, as well as “any other persons involved in the planning and imaging of voting systems components, and the subsequent storage, maintenance, examination or copies of those images,” The Colorado Sun added.
Update 2/17/2022 at 5:02 p.m. EST: This story has been updated to include background information on the case, as well as information regarding Sean Smith and Mark Cook.
