{"id":44068,"date":"2021-10-25T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T18:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/republican-pam-anderson-a-former-county-clerk-launches-bid-to-unseat-colorado-secretary-of-state-jena-griswold\/"},"modified":"2021-10-25T18:07:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T18:07:00","slug":"republican-pam-anderson-a-former-county-clerk-launches-bid-to-unseat-colorado-secretary-of-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/republican-pam-anderson-a-former-county-clerk-launches-bid-to-unseat-colorado-secretary-of-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Pam Anderson, a former county clerk, launches bid to unseat Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Republican
Republican Pam Anderson is running to unseat Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold. (Handout photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Republican Pam Anderson, who served two terms as the top elections official in Jefferson County and led an organization representing county clerks across the state, is running to unseat Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Anderson, who announced her candidacy Saturday morning during an appearance on a conservative talk radio show, said she was motivated to jump into the 2022 race because of what she sees as hyperpartisanship by Griswold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people need a trusted voice,\u201d Anderson said in an interview with The Colorado Sun. \u201cI think Coloradans can expect more from the secretary of state in how they engage with politics. \u2026 This office needs to be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson believes that Colorado\u2019s voting systems are safe and secure and that there wasn\u2019t any fraud or wrongdoing that would have overturned the results of the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n

She is so far the only Republican with a background in politics to have announced a bid to unseat Griswold. Anderson unveiled her candidacy on George Brauchler\u2019s conservative talk radio show on KNUS.<\/p>\n

Griswold, who beat Republican incumbent Wayne Williams in 2018, is the first Democratic woman to be elected Colorado\u2019s secretary of state. She has been a fierce defender of the state\u2019s mail ballot process and its election security procedures.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs secretary of state, I am proud of the work we have done to protect the right to vote and ensure that every eligible Coloradan can participate in our democracy,\u201d Griswold said in a written statement Saturday reacting to Anderson\u2019s candidacy. \u201cUnder my leadership, we expanded access to voting, increased election security, and oversaw record-breaking elections even during the pandemic. And when anti-democratic forces have tried to suppress the vote, I have stopped them. No matter who enters this race, I will always be laser focused on delivering results for Colorado voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griswold leads the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State. She has been a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, appearing on national television news shows to discuss her views. Recently, Griswold has been in a successful battle to prevent Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, a Republican, from having a role in administering the November election after Peters allowed an unauthorized person to attend an election system software update.<\/p>\n

Griswold briefly entertained a 2020 run for U.S. Senate, but after raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through an exploratory committee decided against a bid. She had more than $1.1 million in her campaign bank account heading into October.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold speaks during a news conference about the the state\u2019s efforts to protect the process of casting a vote on Oct. 15, 2020, in downtown Denver. (David Zalubowski\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Anderson criticized Griswold for trying to use her position as secretary of state for a jumping off point to higher office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not the kind of candidate who is running for office to seek another office,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be secretary of state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson was elected Jefferson County\u2019s clerk and recorder in 2006. She was re-elected four years later. Before serving as the county clerk and recorder, Anderson was the city clerk in Wheat Ridge.<\/p>\n

From 2015 to 2020, Anderson served as the head of the Colorado County Clerks Association, a nonprofit representing Democratic and Republican county elections officials across the state.<\/p>\n

While other Colorado Republicans may be questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, Anderson said she sees no evidence to suggest the race was stolen or rife with fraud. She said Colorado\u2019s election processes are safe and secure and that people should have trust in them.<\/p>\n

\"Republican
Republican Pam Anderson is running to unseat Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold. (Handout photo)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI believe that this was the safest and most secure election we\u2019ve ever had in our country,\u201d she said, though she thinks there can be an expansion of quality assurance checks in some areas of Colorado\u2019s election system.<\/p>\n

Anderson said she was \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d in Peters, the Mesa County clerk, who has spread baseless claims about the 2020 presidential election being stolen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the reasons why I\u2019m getting in,\u201d Anderson said, explaining that she wants to be a secretary of state that both Democrats and Republicans can have faith in.<\/p>\n

Anderson also said she rejects any efforts to roll back voting access in Colorado. She opposed legislation at the Colorado Capitol this year that would have required voters to request a mail ballot (they are currently sent to every active registered voter) and that would have limited in-person voting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think going backwards is not in the best interest of Coloradans,\u201d she said. \u201cI think citizen access to their constitutional right to vote is fundamental. We have to protect that access, as well as the security and accuracy of the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado Republicans will pick their party\u2019s nominee for secretary of state on June 28.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candidate accuses Democratic incumbent of being hyperpartisan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,28,1509],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-headlines","tag-state-elections"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44068"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}