UPDATE: Tina Peters, Ron Hanks have once again requested a recount

UPDATE: 5:45 p.m. July 25 | MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKCO) - Embattled Mesa County Clerk & Recorder Tina Peters and former state senate candidate Ron Hanks have once again submitted a request for a recount of the 2022 primary election. This is their final opportunity to submit a recount.

The two argue that the voting machines used in Colorado are subject to security flaws outlined in a report released by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. This has not been confirmed, as the report states that the CISA has found no evidence that these vulnerabilities have been exploited in any elections.

Ron Hanks has reduced his recount request to El Paso County and Pueblo County. Peters has maintained her position of hand-recounting the state’s votes in full.

UPDATE: 5:00 p.m. July 25 | MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKCO) - Mesa County Clerk & Recorder Tina Peters has missed the deadline for a recount today, meaning that she now has just 24 hours to request and pay for another recount.

Tomorrow, July 26, is Peters’ final opportunity to request a recount. If she fails to pay the required amount stipulated by the state or fails to request a recount by close-of-business (5 p.m.), the recount will not be performed.

The Secretary of State previously required a $270,000 payment to order the recount, and Peters stated that she’s reached the halfway point in her fundraising.

MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKCO) - After losing the primary election in June, embattled Mesa County Clerk & Recorder Tina Peters and former Senate candidate Ron Hanks are facing a rapidly approaching deadline for their requested recounts.

Hanks is requesting a recount due to his loss to Republican nominee Joe O’Dea. Peters lost the election to Republican nominee Pam Anderson, but claimed that Secretary of State Jena Griswold had “flipped” the vote.

In letters written by both candidates, Hanks and Peters cite nine security vulnerabilities present in Dominion Voting Systems machines discovered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. However, in Elections Divisions Director Judd Choate’s letter responding to Peters’ allegations, Choate states that the voting system Hanks identifies is not used in Colorado.

Hanks and Peters also requested that a “rigorous post-election tabulation audits of the human-readable portions of physical ballots and paper records,” be performed. Choate stated that Peters and Hanks are essentially requesting a bipartisan Risk Limiting Audit, something that the state has already performed. No discrepancies were reported by any county.

The two former candidates also stated in a letter that both parties are prepared to provide funding for a recount, but both refuse to allow recounts in the “same manner as the initial tabulation in each county.” The letters go on to state that the reasoning behind performing a hand count is due to “nine unmitigated security vulnerabilities announced by CISA.”

Choate previously stated that the security issues outlined by CISA are present in Dominion voting systems that are not used in Colorado.