The Montezuma County Republicans hosted a friendly debate between the two county clerk candidates at the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce Wednesday evening.
Republicans Lenetta Shull, chair of the county’s Republican Central Committee, and Jerri Frizzell, a longtime employee of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office, addressed the roles of the county clerk along with election security concerns brought by voters.
Shull, who is taking a leave of absence from her chair position for her campaign, and Frizzell are the only candidates vying for the job. The county Democrats do not have a contestant in the race.
Frizzell has worked for the clerk’s office for 16 years in addition to being a local restaurant owner managing multiple employees and budgets.
“I love working with the public,” Frizzell said. “I believe in trying to make sure that the public is all aware of the elections – not only elections, but there is a motor vehicle department in there, there's a recording department. And I think there's a lot of people out there that don't know about a lot of things that those departments do.”
Shull, who manages a food truck business on the side and has sat on the Montezuma-Cortez School District Board of Education, also discussed the importance of voter education in her introductory address and emphasized the fresh perspective she’d bring to the office as a newbie.
“I want to build on that foundation,” Shull said, adding as clerk she would take a more forward role in advocating for legislation.
“We need to be a part of our government and look at that legislation and say, ‘Hey, that's not going to work in our rural community,’” she said. “Because, actually, legislation affects our elections, our vital records, our DMV.”
Audience members focused their questions on election security, asking about the use of Dominion Voting Systems’ machines in county elections.
The voting machine company sued media networks for defamation after the circulation of false claims that the company rigged the 2020 election. It now operates under a new owner with the name Liberty Vote. Montezuma County uses these machines and both candidates assured audience members that they are secure and unable to be accessed remotely.
“If you have any questions concerning the security, the integrity of your election, volunteer to be an election judge,” Shull said. “That is the best way to see how it all works. And that is one of the security issues that we have, is that we don't have enough volunteers working those elections.”
In a similar vein, one audience-submitted question asked clerk candidates if they believed the actions of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in the wake of the 2020 election were illegal.
Peters was convicted of state crimes after orchestrating a security breach of her county’s election system, seeking to prove voter fraud in the 2020 election.
“I have reviewed all the information on Tina Peters. I've watched the court cases. What she did was illegal,” Shull said, adding, “There are steps that we can take as clerk and recorders. If we think there is something wrong, we have to follow those steps.”
However, Shull said, she believed Peters’ nine year prison sentence was excessive.
An appeals court ordered Peters’ nine-year sentence to be reevaluated while Gov. Jared Polis has hinted at granting her clemency.
Frizzell took a different approach.
“I am not going to give my opinion on that,” Frizzell said. “I don't think I should have to give my opinion on that, and I won't.”
While they diverged on their responses to the Peters question, both candidates agreed on the security and importance of mail-in ballots, particularly for older voters who have difficulty making it to the polls.
“Here in Montezuma County, I truly believe that our mail-in ballots are very secure,” Shull said, adding that cleaning up voter rolls would further secure elections.
Frizzell agreed that voters who fail to change their registration after moving out of the county are an extra cost in elections, as they will receive a ballot from the clerk at their old address.
“If you have moved, it's your responsibility to come in and tell us that you have moved so we can send the ballots to the right place,” Frizzell said. “If somebody's passed away, you have to let people know that they've passed away.”
Both also emphasized the importance of elections and political awareness among voters, adding that many are unaware of their status or affiliation, which affects their ability to vote in primary or other elections.
Frizzell said she witnessed this lack of awareness as she began meeting voters at the start of her campaign.
“There was a lot of people who didn't realize they weren't Republicans. There was a lot of independent people out there that they don't know they’re independent,” Frizzell said.
Helping the public understand elections and voter registration would be a fixture of her service as county clerk, she added.
Shull agreed.
“People don't understand how elections work, how the caucus process works, how the Electoral College works,” Shull said.
Registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters can vote in the upcoming primary with Election Day on June 30. To update or change registration, voters can visit GoVoteColorado.gov or visit the Montezuma County Clerk and Recorder’s Office at 140 W. Main St. in Cortez.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
