For the second time in two days, a Denver Metro county Republican party announced that it, “wouldn’t certify” election results that have already been certified. The Adams County Republican Party said Tuesday it will not certify the county election results, despite the fact that its own representative to the canvass board has already signed off on certification.
All three members of Adams County canvass board –Democratic Party member John Myers, Republican Party member Doug Woody, and Clerk & Recorder Josh Zygielbaum– have already signed the certification document, which was then transmitted to the Secretary of State.
This did not prevent the Adams GOP Chair from posting a statement on the party website and Facebook page saying,
“At this time, the Adams County Republican Committee will not certify the election results due to numerous irregularities that have caused serious concerns with the overall operations during the 2020 Election Season.”
The statement went on to enumerate a variety of concerns, including conspiracy theories involved the Dominion electronic voting machines used by Adams and nearly all other Colorado counties.
Reached for comment, Chair JoAnn Windholz acknowledged that Woody, her party’s representative to the canvass board, signed off on certifying the results and “did not find any red flags.” Nevertheless, the former state representative insisted that “the Adams County Republican Committee doesn’t support the 2020 Election results for the reasons listed on our Facebook site. There is considerable concern with the process of the entire election. With that said, the concerns are valid and these concerns call into question how the election was run.”
Windholz’ statement echoes that of the Jefferson County Republican Party, which on Monday announced that it refused to certify its election results, citing the same unfounded claims of fraud involving Dominion Voting software.
Adams GOP Secretary Doug Woody, who signed the certification letter, disagrees.
“Speaking only for myself and not on behalf of the Adams County Republican Party, I can say that I have every confidence that the ballots cast in Adams County were counted correctly, and I would not have signed the certification otherwise,” said Woody via email. “Neither JoAnn nor anyone else in party leadership ever communicated with me as to how I ought to go about my duties on the Canvass Board. While JoAnn and I had a discussion regarding some of her concerns last week (and during which I told her I did not share those specific concerns), I was unaware of the particulars of the letter until after we had completed the Canvass on Monday morning.”
Reached for comment, Clerk Zygielbaum offered the following statement:
“The Dominion Voting System was certified by former Republican Secretary of State, Wayne Williams, and has been used by Adams County without issue or objection from the Adams County Republican party since its implementation in 2016. Secretary Williams issued a public statement on November 17th doubling down on his confidence in the Dominion system. Other than appointing an official member to the Canvass Board, which oversees election certification in the county, the party takes no part in the certification of the election. The county Republican Party’s appointed representative has signed off on the results of the election, indicating the party’s belief that the results of the election were and are accurate and correct. According to state law, this meets the requirement for election certification and these results have been reported the Secretary of State’s office.”
Colorado Secretary of State spokesperson Betsy Hart acknowledged receipt of of the certified results or “abstract of votes” on Tuesday:
The Adams County Clerk and Recorder transmitted to the Secretary of State the official abstract of votes cast certified by all three members of Adams County’s canvass board. Adams County’s certification was unanimous.
Either the leaders of the Jeffco GOP and the Adams GOP don’t understand that that county parties don’t “certify” election results, or they are intentionally promoting misinformation aimed at undermining Colorado’s democratic process. In Windholz’ case, her experience as a state legislator who once authored a bill on election security makes it unlikely she doesn’t understand the existing safeguards.
Joining the Adams and Jefferson County parties in this misunderstanding is another Front Range Republican party, the Douglas County GOP, which announced Tuesday evening that while it certified its own results, it “most vigorously defends the multiple county parties that are refusing to certify election results across the state.”
The combined residents of Jefferson, Adams and Douglas counties number approximately 1.5 million people, or just over a quarter of Colorado’s total population.
