Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Republican operatives are spending their time in the minority ginning up more confusion and bogus anti-democracy conspiracy. The GOP in Arizona are running an excruciatingly incoherent and at times farcical recount of ballots. While it has been called an audit by the people creating theatrics around it, most experts see it as something more akin to dangerous experimental theater. The danger is what it represents to our democracy.

The Grand Junction Sentinel reports there's finally been a break in the Kraken case investigation into a Colorado election system "breach!" Guess what? "Secretary of State Jena Griswold released an order at 10:15 a.m. today calling on Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters to supply surveillance videos and documents showing how the breach occurred, and how security information ended up on a social media post."

According to The Bulwark's Tim Miller—a former communications director for Jeb Bush 2016 (a campaign not known for its socialism)—Peters is a "fervent supporter of Donald Trump and amateur vaccine science aficionado." Miller reports that The Gateway Punditposted video and screenshot proof that Dominion has remote access to voting machines. The whistleblower who provided this evidence reportedly appears in this "explosive" evidence that Hugo Chavez (or some kind of socialist spider monkey) could have accessed and overturned millions of votes in favor of Joe Biden.

The grainy, shaky video presented a conversation between an election official and a Dominion employee, in which the election official asks a series of leading questions in order to demonstrate how, with the help of someone on the inside, the machine could hypothetically be tampered with over the internet using the BIOS motherboard settings.

Unfortunately, they also left a trace of what they were doing, which actually is a security breach of our election systems.

When the official shared this "bombshell" video with CodeMonkey Watkins they included in it an image of their election system's BIOS password, which is, of course, a massive breach of voting system security.

Peters is not specifically on the hook for this breach of security, but she is the head of the office where the breach took place. According to Miller, the information posted in those screenshots and video was only accessible by a very select group of people "who have passed background checks."

Griswold told the Sentinel: "We have these security protocols in place for a reason. This is a very serious breach in chain-of-custody and security protocols. That's why I will be issuing this order and investigating. On top of that, "If the Mesa County clerk cannot show proof in the chain of custody or if the voting equipment after inspection, if there is anything that comes to our attention, the voting equipment will be de-certified." Decertification of those election machines would force the county to pay up for refitting of all their machines. Trump and MAGA hit the taxpayers again!

Previously, Peters made headlines as an election official promoting the Stop the Steal conspiracy theories leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Back on January 5, the Sentinel reported on a tweet (since taken down) by Peters attacking Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer: "Shame on you! As one that administers elections in my county, you apparently have no idea how it is possible to 1) tabulate more than once ballots favoring a candidate 2) change algorithm in a voting machine (see Eric Coomer from Dominion's Facebook ranks) UR Dirty or ignorant."

Colorado Pols has some more tweets that Peters has since deleted:

• On Dec. 13, 2020: "Also, the vaccines are troubling in the mechanics in the RNA. I don't want anyone messing with my RNA, my DNA or anything else – MY BODY, my right!"
• On Jan. 3, 2021: "Their intent is not to "overturn" the election. This was not an election. This was planned fraud on a grand scale. If you refuse to acknowledge that you WILL NOT be re-elected. We need others in your place that uphold the Constitution and preserve our Republic."

While there is an ever-increasing mountain of evidence showing that Donald Trump—along with his fascistic cult of minions, administration officials, and Republican Party officials—attempted to pull off a coup d'etat, the MAGA-minded amongst us continue to believe whatever it is they tell themselves they believe. If we believe in our Constitution as a foundational document laying out the basic legal principals of our democracy, we must hold accountable those who evidence and reality tell us must be held accountable for these crimes.

Tuesday, Aug 10, 2021 · 2:45:50 PM EDT · Walter Einenkel

Peters emailed a statement to the Denver Post:

Saying that citizens of Mesa County have voiced concerns over the election: "I have told them I will do everything in my power to protect their vote. I will share more information once the investigation has concluded."