A Denver District Court judge on Nov. 3 denied a preliminary-injunction request by Elbert County Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder, leaving in place the election supervisor assigned to Schroeder’s office by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.
Schroeder’s injunction request was filed Oct. 25, six days after Griswold appointed Christi Coburn from the Secretary of State’s Office to supervise the conduct of the fall election in Elbert County. Schroeder’s court request sought to overturn Griswold’s order.
Griswold cited Schroeder’s 2021 collaboration with unauthorized people to create copies of voting-machine hard drives that made their way to three lawyers, a failure to count 37 misplaced mail ballots in the June 2022 primary election, and Schroeder’s perceived lack of appreciation of the seriousness of those security issues, as shown in his press releases, press conferences and community presentations in August and October 2022.
Schroeder’s request for a preliminary injunction argued that Griswold exceeded her authority to supervise elections when she appointed Coburn, that Griswold’s order violated Schroeder’s due-process rights, and that Griswold’s order was retaliation against Schroeder for exercising his free-speech rights in challenging Griswold on issues of election security.
Denver District Court Judge Alex C. Myers ruled against Schroeder across the board. Myers cited the Colorado Election Code in finding that Griswold has broad authority to supervise elections, cited the state’s Administrative Procedures Act and Schroeder’s right to court review in finding that Schroeder’s due-process rights were not violated, and found that Schroeder had failed to establish his claim of retaliation in the court record.
Schroeder is running unopposed as a Republican in the 2022 election for District 2 county commissioner.
The Denver District Court case number is 2022CV33085.
Scott Gilbert is an editor at Colorado Community Media.
