{"id":30284,"date":"2023-12-01T03:31:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T10:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-republican-party-chair-shelli-shaw-refuses-to-certify-november-election-results\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:16:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:16:03","slug":"la-plata-county-republican-party-chair-shelli-shaw-refuses-to-certify-november-election-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-republican-party-chair-shelli-shaw-refuses-to-certify-november-election-results\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County Republican Party Chair Shelli Shaw refuses to certify November election results"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Shelli
Shelli Shaw<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The 2023 La Plata County Coordinated Election in November went \u201cbeautifully\u201d by Clerk and Recorder Tiffany Lee\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

Turnout started slow, but by the end of the night on Nov. 7, it was evident there was more voter participation than she had expected.<\/p>\n

But when Democratic and Republican canvass representatives Gregory Westerwick and Shelli Shaw met with Lee to certify the election results, Shaw refused to sign and certify the results at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Lee said she and her staff were \u201cheartbroken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaw told Lee she didn\u2019t have an issue with how Lee ran the local elections. However, Shaw took issue with how Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold selected election races and ballots to audit.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, left, listens to Durango and La Plata County leaders at the Durango Chamber of Commerce on Thursday during a discussion about fallacious election conspiracies that have perpetuated since false claims surfaced before, during and after the 2020 elections. Area officials such as County Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton, right, city council members and other figureheads attended the meeting. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The process in question is called a \u201crisk limiting audit,\u201d in which Colorado county clerks have practiced since 2017. The Secretary of State directs the county clerk and canvassers to pull specific ballots and send them to the SOS office for validation.<\/p>\n

Shaw participated in the audit, and while that was underway, she didn\u2019t raise any concerns, Lee said. When the time came to actually sign off on the official election results, thus certifying them, Shaw refused.<\/p>\n

Lee said Shaw took issue with the Secretary of State auditing the pulled ballots instead of having Lee do so herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI disagree with the clerk being the one to select one (ballot),\u201d Lee said. \u201cI\u2019m running the election. I could be on the ballot. If I was the one selecting it, the community might even feel more skeptical.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018This one person is running them and now is going to select the ballots that are going to be audited? It just doesn\u2019t make sense to me,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Shaw, who is also the La Plata County Republican Party chair, did not respond to a written request for comment.<\/p>\n

On Monday ahead of the certification, Lee was already aware of a letter being circulated by Colorado GOP Ballot and Election Security Committee Chairman Ron Hanks urging county canvass boards not to certify Nov. 7 election results.<\/p>\n

The letter regurgitates the same groundless accusations of a \u201crigged\u201d election touted by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who currently faces four federal indictments, two of which are related to election conspiracies he has peddled (the Fulton County, Georgia and Washington, D.C. election subversion indictments, the latter colloquially known as \u2018Jan. 6.\u2019).<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has changed to make elections more accurate and transparent, and the canvass board has been made irrelevant. So why should any Patriot certify such a rigged system?\u201d Hanks\u2019 letter says.<\/p>\n

Lee said she had answered questions by both party canvass boards on Monday and had heard no complaints until it was time to certify the election.<\/p>\n

Although Shaw refused to certify the results, Westerwick provided his signature.<\/p>\n

Lee signed off on the results as well, and two signatures are enough to certify the results of the election, she said.<\/p>\n

She said Shaw had asked to visit the clerk\u2019s office to witness the election process. That process includes ballots being collected and delivered to the clerk\u2019s office and then scanned into ballot software, bipartisan election judges validating voter signatures, as well as ballots being opened so that votes are anonymously recorded.<\/p>\n

Lee gave Shaw two separate opportunities to stop by when the election process with bipartisan volunteer election judges would be in full swing, but Shaw never showed up.<\/p>\n

Lee said in her 27-year-long career, she has never had a canvass representative refuse to sign off on election results until now.<\/p>\n