Former high Republican lawmaker in Colorado acquired leak of voting information

A former Republican minority chief of the Colorado legislature is among the many recipients of a trove of delicate voting information leaked by a county official working with an activist in search of to show President Donald Trump’s false stolen-election claims, the secretary of state’s workplace instructed Reuters on Monday.

The revelation signifies the breach of poll information in Elbert County was wider than beforehand understood. The case, now being investigated by the Colorado secretary of state, is one in every of not less than 9 unauthorized makes an attempt to entry voting-system information across the United States, not less than eight of which concerned Republican officers or activists in search of proof to delegitimize Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory.

The clerk in Elbert County, Dallas Schroeder, beforehand testified that he copied voting information from the county’s election server onto two arduous drives and gave the drives to 2 people, each of them legal professionals. Schroeder, responding to the investigation and a associated lawsuit by the secretary of state, disclosed that one of many recipients was his personal legal professional, John Case, and refused to call the opposite lawyer.

But Schroeder truly gave the information to 2 different legal professionals, along with Case, in keeping with secretary of state’s spokesperson Annie Orloff. Affidavits by the 2 attorneys had been anticipated to be launched on Monday.

One of the legal professionals was Joseph Stengel, a former state lawmaker who served as Republican minority chief till he resigned in 2006. Stengel, primarily based in Denver, is a former legislation associate of Case, who’s representing clerk Schroeder within the state lawsuit.

The different was Elbert County-based legal professional Ric Morgan, who can also be listed because the county’s Veteran Services Officer.

Reached by Reuters, Stengel declined to reply questions on his function within the voting system breach. Morgan didn’t reply to a number of calls and emails.

Schroeder didn’t reply to requests for remark. He has said in authorized filings that he believed he had a “statutory duty” to protect data of the 2020 election.

In a press release to Reuters final week, Schroeder’s lawyer, Case, mentioned that the clerk had acted legally and argued that the data on the arduous drives needs to be public document. The copied materials consists of poll photos, Case mentioned, however “no voter information.” He mentioned the data might have “immense historical value.”

“Dallas Schroeder violated no law or election rule,” he mentioned within the assertion.

Asked for a response to Case’s assertion, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s workplace instructed Reuters that Schroeder had violated guidelines prohibiting “unqualified individuals” from accessing voting techniques tools. He additionally violated guidelines prohibiting using sure “removable storage media,” Griswold’s workplace mentioned, referring to the gadget Schroeder used to picture the techniques.
Griswold’s workplace mentioned it was nonetheless inspecting the information contained on the arduous drives.

Schroeder has testified that he was receiving directions on copy the system’s information from a retired Air Force colonel and political activist, Shawn Smith, a Trump supporter bent on proving there was election fraud in 2020.

Smith’s group, the U.S. Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), has been pressuring native county clerks in Colorado to analyze unfounded allegations of 2020 election fraud and to present USEIP unauthorized entry to voting information to carry out forensic audits, in keeping with interviews with clerks and the Colorado County Clerks Association.