Republican Secretary of State candidate Pam Anderson spoke Sept. 1 in Castle Rock, answering questions from about 30 people about election issues and the role of the secretary of state’s position.
Anderson was a guest speaker for a meeting with We the Women, a local conservative political organization, at The Rock Church.
In response to questions, Anderson pushed back against election conspiracy theories relating to signature verification, hand recounts, and mail-in voting.
For example, she responded directly to a question regarding the alleged falsification of results stemming from Dominion Voting Systems.
“I have not seen any evidence that that is true. I’ve seen a lot of work; I’ve read all the reports, on the vulnerabilities of systems,” Anderson said. “Evidence-based elections is what’s important. We have not seen evidence of a systemic problem that impacted the outcome of the election.”
Dominion is suing a group of election conspiracists and news outlets for defamation for saying that its systems rigged the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden.
“I’ve never said that any voting system is completely secure, nor are hand-count paper ballots,” Anderson. “What you have to do is utilize systems for efficiency, for accuracy and for accessibility.”
Anderson was asked by an audience member if she would stand by “conservative values” and not be a RINO, a term used by far-right members of the Republican party to descibe members of the party who are not aligned with former president Donald Trump.
“I find that to be fairly derogatory,” Anderson said. “I’ve been a lifelong Republican. … If you’re asking me to take polarizing positions, on one side or the other, in the interest of the secretary of state’s race, I won’t do that in order to be a fair referee with access to the political process.”
Anderson served eight years as a clerk and recorder for Jefferson County and describes herself as a lifelong Republican.
Anderson is running against incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold. In June, Anderson defeated election conspiracist Tina Peters in a high-profile primary race.
Peters had repeatedly claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The indicted Mesa County Clerk was arrested after she helped an unauthorized person make copies of the election system’s hard drive and distributed sensitive passwords online. In May, she was barred by a district judge from overseeing Mesa County elections this year.
Peters said the primary election she lost was fraudulent as well.
Anderson said she is open to methods of auditing election systems. She said that previous audits have validated her confidence in voter-marked paper ballots.
“I am continually open to listening to how every voter or non-voter feels the system can be improved,” Anderson said.
Anderson spent much of the night attempting to clarify misinformed opinions from some audience members. She said she was proud of the Colorado election model and had confidence in the state’s election systems.
Anderson did not say she agreed that the state’s election system was the “gold standard,” as Griswold has said.
“I am very proud of the Colorado model for lots of reasons,” Anderson said. “I have intentionally not used that phrase because I’ve worked for the last 20 years to improve the system. I think that any competent election official does not believe there’s such a thing as a perfect election, but I can tell you that I am very proud of the work local election officials have done over the last 20 years, including myself, improving that.
“Why I haven’t used that superlative, is, one, from a security perspective, it makes you a target and from a political perspective it makes you a target and I think that’s unfair, and, two, I think there’s always ways to improve,” Anderson said. “As rapidly as we’ve seen technology change and methods change and the way we vote change, that will always be the case.”
One audience member asked Anderson about a photo of a recent party Anderson was seen attending along with former election officials as well as an alleged Dominion employee. Anderson said she did not feel she violated any ethics by attending the party as a guest.
Anderson said she supported the hybrid voting system Colorado has, offering both mail-in and in-person voting opportunities.
“I believe in both functions. I believe in freedom and that individual choice should rest with you,” Anderson said.
Anderson spent much of the night repeating her belief that Griswold has “put her thumb on the scale” to leverage her own political beliefs within the position of secretary of state.
“I saw, up close, things like, during COVID, my opponent spending half of the COVID money – $2.8 million – on commercials for herself,” Anderson said. “I saw up close how she used her power and campaign finance…for political access against people she disagreed with.”
Griswold has run ads on local TV along with former Republican Secretary of State Wayne Williams telling voters to look out for election misinformation.
Anderson said the office of the Colorado Secretary of State needs to “remain above the fray” of “hyper-political influence.”
She declined to answer questions about on red flag laws.
“No election is perfect,” Anderson said. “What I’ve learned as an election official is to keep an open mind. I believe in evidence-based elections.”
