An overwhelming majority of Montana’s GOP legislators are urging their leadership in the state House and Senate to appoint a special committee to investigate the security of the state’s election system, an effort spearheaded by Republican legislators who are pushing theories of widespread voting fraud. The decision to appoint a special select committee, as requested in the Wednesday letter signed by 86 of the GOP’s 98 lawmakers, rests entirely in the hands of Senate President Mark Blasdel and House Speaker Wylie Galt, both Republicans. Galt didn’t return phone calls requesting comment on the letter, which asks for a response from them by Oct. 6, and Blasdel declined to comment when reached Friday. The letter proposes forming a GOP-majority committee, in which each party gets seats relative to their numbers in each chamber. Republicans hold 67 of 100 House seats and 31 of 50 Senate seats. “Many of our constituents have reached out to us with questions about Montana election security,” the letter states. “… The Select Committee would conduct hearings about the process and security of Montana elections and propose future changes if needed; including legislation.”
Colorado: Mesa Clerk was given detailed instructions on how to back up election files | Charles Ashby/Grand Junction Sentinel
Before Colorado Secretary of State and Dominion Voting System technicians came to Mesa County in May to conduct a software update of its elections system, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was given a step-by-step guide on how to back up election files and told just who could be present during that computer upgrade. In an April 30 email to all county clerks in the state obtained by The Daily Sentinel, Jessi Romero, voting systems manager in the Secretary of State’s Office, laid out the details on how to prepare for its “trusted build” software update, something the state and county clerks have done once a year since 2005. In it, Romero wrote that “only authorized staff, county elections staff and Dominion staff may be present during trusted build,” and asked each clerk to agree to the terms of the upgrade to preserve the security of election equipment, which included limiting the number of people who could be present, all of which had to have passed criminal history background checks. Peters agreed to those terms, but only after state officials declined Peters’ request to allow others into the office to view that upgrade, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. “The onsite installation of the trusted build is not the time for members of the public, representatives from the local parties or county officials other than the clerk and recorder to observe or ask questions about the process or any of the disinformation being pushed about the election,” Romero wrote. “If, when we arrive or during the process, there are others present beyond Dominion, county election staff that have been authorized and the clerk and recorder in the area where the trusted build will take place, we will move on to the next county,” Romero added. “It will then be the responsibility of the clerk and recorder to ship equipment to Denver so it may be upgraded at a time that works for Dominion and the (SOS office).” Those computer upgrades have to be done in person because county election systems are not accessible via the internet, the Secretary of State’s Office says.
Full Article: Clerk was given detailed instructions on how to back up election files | Western Colorado | gjsentinel.com