As one of Colorado’s most prominent election conspiracists, Joe Oltmann has spent the past two years insisting that there has been massive voter fraud in just about every Colorado and national election since 2020. He’s never been able to produce any evidence of this, and in fact, has been sued for defamation multiple times over his unsubstantiated claims.
Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters took her conspiracy promotion to a new level this week when she implied that law enforcement murdered two family members of her former staff members in order to compel them to testify against her.
Rebecca Lavrenz of Colorado Springs was arrested yesterday in connection with her participation at the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. Lavrenz is facing four charges, according to a September arrest warrant: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Conservative activist groups — who oppose equity efforts and LGBTQ inclusion and advocate for the expansion of school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers — are increasingly gaining influence over school board members and district administrators. Both the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) and FEC United, which share a pool of members with other local activist groups like the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) and Advocates for D20 Kids, to name a few, have successfully lobbied school district leaders across the front range.
Douglas County podcaster Joe Oltmann’s legal woes continue to mount. Not only is Oltmann, the founder of conservative activist group FEC United, involved in a defamation lawsuit stemming from his “probably false” claims that former Dominion executive Eric Coomer took part in an “Antifa conference call,” but he is also facing another defamation lawsuit from journalist Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, whom Oltmann claimed was an “accessory to murder,” despite the fact that no such murder took place.
This Saturday, the last weekend before midterm elections, the El Paso County Republican Party held a special central committee meeting to censure 33 party members, many of whom are current elected officials and candidates for Tuesday’s election. Many of those censured Saturday have also opposed or otherwise run afoul of El Paso County GOP Chair Vickie Tonkins or her slate of FEC United-backed, extremist candidates. Once the flagship county party of the Colorado GOP, the El Paso County Republican Party is a house divided, engaged in what Rep. Dave Williams (R-Co Springs) calls a “civil war,” testing whether that party, or any party so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. The Colorado Times Recorder has compiled nearly two years’ worth of Republican trials, tribulations, goofs, and gaffes to provide much-needed context for Saturday’s censure vote.
Joe Oltmann, leader of the conservative activist group FEC United, says he’s part of an organized effort to monitor ballot drop-off boxes not only in Colorado but in 45 states across the country.
FEC United, the Colorado-based election conspiracy group led by election denier Joe Oltmann, is organizing “ballot box watching” events, during which members of the group — which has a militia wing — will gather near ballot dropoff locations in Colorado in an effort to “deter crime.”
UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, a day after this story was published, 9News reporter Kyle Clark tweeted that Moore had pulled out of this event.
At a press conference earlier this week the entire Colorado Republican slate, from statewide candidates Heidi Ganahl and Joe O’Dea to Statehouse and school board hopefuls, joined together to talk only about “kitchen table” policy issues. The subtext was clear: With the primaries over, the party doesn’t want to talk about stolen elections or other far-right conspiracies.
