At or before the Oct. 12 public forum for local election candidates, each one should either explain or be questioned fully about whether they support Colorado’s existing election laws and regulations, including Colorado’s model system of mandatory voting by mail, drop-off boxes and bipartisan signature verification. If any of the candidates think existing election laws, voter registration requirements or voting periods should be changed, they should be asked to offer a rationale for what they believe is wrong with the existing laws and explain what should be changed to improve our elections.

If any current candidates deny the officially reported outcome of any 2020 election results — in the United States of America, in the state of Colorado or in Grand County — those candidates should also be prepared to disclose, specifically, what election or elections they question and explain why they do so. This is not a matter of private conscience or religious objection. Every voter in Grand County should have this information about each candidate before voting to decide who runs Grand County government going forward and who administers our elections in the future.

As an active Grand County voter, I have always appreciated the work of the outgoing county clerk and recorder Sara Rosene, both in terms of her proper conduct of our elections and otherwise. Thank you, madame clerk, for running everything completely by the book all these many years. Your fulfillment of this essential position of public trust has set a high bar and provides still further, compelling evidence that who we elect, in absolutely every election, matters.

Respectfully submitted,

Steve Peters, Fraser