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Tina Peters says she raised $230,000 to pay for recount of the GOP primary she lost

Ron Hanks also requested a recount for his GOP primary race
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Posted at 5:51 PM, Jul 27, 2022
and last updated 2022-07-27 19:51:15-04

Two former Colorado GOP candidates Tina Peters and Ron Hanks have submitted new requests to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office for recounts of their respective races, and at least Peters has said she raised money to pay for it.

Peters, the Mesa County clerk and recorder indicted on allegations of election tampering, sought the Republican nomination for secretary of state in June but lost by a wide margin. Hanks, a state House representative, was defeated in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Both candidates have denied the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election and baselessly claim widespread voter fraud, including in their own election losses.

Both Peters and Hanks had requested recounts earlier this month, but Peters and Hanks failed to pay the money required to conduct a recount by the next day, a deadline set in state law. They also asked for county clerks to conduct hand recounts, but the state’s Elections Division denied the request based on state law and current regulations, saying recounts have to be conducted in the same manner as the election tabulation — using counties’ voting equipment.

Peters’ and Hanks’ races did not automatically trigger recounts because their votes were not within half a percent of the winning candidates’ votes, but they are allowed to request them if they pay associated costs for county clerks to do that work.

Although they both asked again for hand recounts in their requests on Wednesday, the state’s Elections Division informed them that ballots could only be rescanned and the division would need to get confirmation by 5 p.m. Wednesday from each of the candidates if they wanted to move forward. As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, only Hanks had amended his request and asked for rescanning, but the secretary of state’s office said if Peters provides the funds by the end of Thursday, a recount can be performed.

Read the full story from our partners at The Denver Post.