County Officials Sue Over Alleged Destruction of Log Files in Election Computer System

A group of county clerks and commissioners is suing Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, for her alleged role in the deleting and writing-over of electronic election records. Filed in Denver County District Court in November 2021, the suit has survived one motion to dismiss by Griswold and is facing another. The plaintiffs’ second amended complaint, filed on Jan. 10, 2022, asks the court to declare that Griswold’s office “deleted or destroyed electronic election records from the 2020 election.” Election officials are required by Colorado law to preserve election records for 25 months. The local clerks contend that her alleged actions injured them in the performance of their statutory duties to ensure honest and fair elections. Griswold’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but its second motion to dismiss asserts that computer log files do not meet the legal definition of “election records.” The tech …