DENVER — Nearly 200 people gathered outside the Colorado Capitol Tuesday for an “Election Truth Rally.”
Mesa County Clerk-Recorder Tina Peters and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell led the rally and repeated claims of voter fraud, which have been debunked by election officials and audit trails across the country.
“I’m here because your machines, your elections were corrupt,” Lindell told reporters.
Before Peters or Lindell speak, several Republican state lawmakers address the crowd, criticizing the very system that got them elected.
Rep. Dave Williams (R-El Paso), Rep. Richard Holtorf (R-Akron), Rep. Mark Baisley (R-Roxborough Park) and Rep. Ron Hanks (R-Penrose) spoke to the crowd. A couple of them highlighted their electoral reform bills that were killed in legislative committees earlier in the session.
Rep. Dan Woog (R-Erie) stood in the crowd during some of the speeches, but did not make it to the podium.
On the Capitol balcony above the crowd, several Democratic state lawmakers briefly watched the rally before returning to work inside. Senate President Steve Fenberg (D-Boulder) stopped briefly at the event to see who was speaking.
Fenberg is the lead sponsor of an election security bill aimed at preventing insider election threats in the wake of Peters’ actions. Peters faces 13 charges, including several felonies, in connection with his alleged election team tampering last year.
The Colorado Republican Party has publicly called on Peters to suspend his campaign for the Colorado Secretary of State position as a result of the impeachment, but Peters has refused.
Denver7 contacted the Colorado Republican Party for an interview or statement about the rally, but received no response. House Republicans also turned down interview requests from Denver7 even though several members of his caucus attended the rally.
Before taking the podium, Lindell spoke at length with reporters, calling for Dominion’s voting machines to be removed from the electoral process.
Lindell had strong words for reporters about some of the questions, calling them rotten and stupid and asking a reporter if she was Jena Griswold’s daughter. She also told reporters that she personally didn’t know Peters very well, but later said that she had donated up to $800,000 to her legal defense fund. That legal defense fund is being investigated by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission. Colorado law states that elected officials may not accept financial gifts in excess of $65.
As he spoke, a man handed him a manila envelope filled with documents. Lindell initially refused to take the documents, but later accepted them after being told they were legal documents. Lindell went on to tell the crowd that he had just received a lawsuit.
Down the hill from the rally, a handful of counter-protesters chanted and held up signs to passing cars, refuting the claims of the rally speakers.
“I think we’ve heard all of this before and it’s all been debunked and refuted,” said Nico Delgado, a communications adviser for the Colorado Democratic Party who helped organize the counterprotest. “I think it’s silly to keep coming back and over and over again to try to prove that the choice was legitimate.”
Despite allegations of voter fraud, several speakers at Tuesday’s rally stressed the importance of midterm elections and getting candidates they support elected. However, it will require relying on some of the very voting systems they are criticizing.
Both protesters and counter-protesters say they are already considering midterm elections because both sides believe democracy is at stake.
Reference-www.thedenverchannel.com