by Ashe in America | Aug 20, 2026 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA
— OPINION
Judge Philip Brimmer in the US Federal Court for the District of Colorado threw out a lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, after she failed to share voter data to support the Trump Administration’s efforts to ensure only eligible voters are accessing US elections.
Secretary Griswold claims the requested information contains sensitive information — including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — and that the administration has no legitimate right to demand the data. The DOJ argues Title III of the Civil Rights Act requires Colorado to turn the records over. Brimmer disagreed with the DOJ, dismissing the case with prejudice.
Griswold took a victory lap, saying in a statement quoted in CPR, “Trump and his DOJ are attacking elections and democracy. We will not let them win… Today’s victory affirms that Trump’s DOJ has no right to Coloradans’ sensitive voter information.”
This was a procedural victory for the secretary, not a constitutional one. Brimmer dismissed the case narrowly, reading that voter registration lists aren’t “records” covered by 52 U.S.C. § 20701, and even if they were, the DOJ’s December 1 demand didn’t state a valid basis and purpose as the statute requires.
The lack of a valid basis is confusing considering the document and witness testimony that was recently declassified by the Trump Administration. Newly declassified records reveal that, “voter registration rolls from at least 18 states (not all identified by name) have been compromised by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).” Colorado is on that list, revealed by the White House Government Transparency taskforce on July 13, 2026.
Ostensibly, Chinese hackers did target Colorado voters’ sensitive data; further declassification revealed that some voter data was obtained through unauthorized access across the country, though names of the states remain redacted. Those records also reveal that intelligence officials deliberately withheld that information from the Presidential Daily Briefing, admitting in the previously classified communications that, “We have deliberately massaged our one pending PDB to avoid any direct links to the election.” These communications are posted on The White House website under the “Election Integrity” tab.
The implication from the declassified documents is that federal intelligence officials were hiding a major national security threat from the Commander in Chief.
Considered in that context, is Brimmer preventing the DOJ from mitigating a national security threat of unauthorized Chinese data access? Not according to the record of the arguments presented before him.
The DOJ didn’t argue national security. They argued voter roll hygiene, an activity and authority directly under the purview of the states and, for Brimmer, that was insufficient. Since the case is dismissed with prejudice, the DOJ can’t bring the voter roll hygiene case again.
They should bring the national security one.
There is no indication that Secretary Griswold is mitigating a Chinese data breach. She doesn’t even seem concerned about it, despite credible, documented evidence of a foreign threat to Colorado elections. Almost like it’s not a surprise.
Instead, the secretary is concerned that federal authorities might check the work of her and her office. This is the same office that “accidentally” sent 29,997 invitations to register to vote to ineligible voters (non-citizens). It’s the same office that posted over 600 election equipment passwords on the internet for a period that spanned two separate election events.
This is the same office that was caught in a coverup of that password breach. Then Deputy Secretary of State Chris Beall was outed on a recorded line telling the Adams County Clerk and Recorder, “We were not going to tell counties because we could not tell counties without it becoming the media storm that it’s become.” Note that they can’t investigate a breach without the clerks — who control the machines, the cameras, access logs, etc. — so they likely didn’t investigate at all.
Given the revelations about Chinese access to US elections, which were declassified nearly two years after the Beall scandal, the conduct and focus of the secretary’s office raises new questions about a national security threat. If the courts won’t let the feds access information required to combat foreign threats in our elections; and the state outright refuses to combat foreign threats in our elections; is anyone actually combating foreign threats in our elections?
This isn’t on Brimmer. The DOJ didn’t bring a national security argument into his courtroom.
They should.
Ashe Epp is a local writer, host, and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Jul 23, 2026 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA
— OPINION
There is a shift happening in Colorado that no one is talking about.
There are 4,022,433 registered voters in Colorado, according to the Independent Voter Project. Unaffiliated voters — those claiming no party affiliation — more than double the totals from either party. Democrats comprise 991,920 voters, or 24.7%; Republicans comprise 894,209 voters, or 22.2%; and Independents comprise 2,038,329, or 50.7%. Another 97,976 voters, or 2.4%, are listed as “other”, ostensibly a consolidated bucket of the other available affiliations.
The parties, and their media partners, will tell you that the “unaffiliated” voters are mostly still partisans whose lack of affiliation is a form of protest. The implication is, “Don’t take them too seriously, they still vote with the parties.”
The latter part of that implication is largely true, but only in that the two major parties, despite representing less than half of us, still enjoy a premium on ballot access, and its amplification by all the “trusted institutions.”
The former part of the implication, I argue, is false.
Colorado is not two parties. It is many factions, organized largely around causes. What unites these diverse factions is a distinct rejection of the two-party system, in part because that rejection is required to drive change in Colorado. That is, 2,136,356 voters in the state reject the two-party system but ostensibly lack the organizing apparatus to scale something new.
The parties brand this as partisans in protest, a framing that allows them to dismiss it and remain focused on the 1,886,129 voters attached to the two parties.
That brings me to the shift and the current political moment.
I attended the Colorado Citizenry event on July 8th hosted by Jonathan and Deborah Flora in Castle Rock. At one point, I found myself at a table discussing the Governor’s race. Two people at the table were committed to Lopez, two declared for Weiser, and one was considering under voting the contest — leaving the race blank on his ballot. Of those five, two were Republicans, two were unaffiliated, and one was a Democrat.
The discussion was robust, fact-based, and unemotional. There were no personal attacks and, importantly, there was zero discussion about parties for the simple reason that party discussions are irrelevant. That didn’t need to be said. It’s understood. The event was a blast. If there is a Colorado Citizenry event in your area, you should go.
I recently connected with Erin Brantley who is building “Independent Majority” to (my characterization, not hers) combat the party premium on the viability of non-party sanctioned ideas and initiatives. Like the Floras, Brantley is connecting and collaborating with individuals and groups of all political persuasions to imagine and organize something post partisan. Something new.
During the 2026 primary season, a group of local bloggers and podcasters began collaborating and sharing information and ideas in back channels. Like the other examples, those involved run the spectrum of political identity and content and audiences. During the primary, the group comprised support for all three candidates in the race. Local content is better for it, more grounded and balanced in the exploration of issues and ideas facing the electoral franchise before the November election.
There is nothing partisan about any of these anecdotes. The people involved represent many factions, platforms, goals, and movements. These efforts are unemotional and post partisan and they’re growing — despite the parties’ contention that 2,136,356 of us are just partisans in protest.
Now consider that inside the 46.9% that are affiliated with the two major parties, there are many factions. The problem with those guys is that they chase their tails fighting to control the party instead of the government. It’s our 250th birthday month, so let’s get George Washington’s take:
“The alternate domination of one faction over another…is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism… the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one party against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”
Spot on, President Washington. This is literally why we’re post partisan. Something new can be something old. Something new can be whatever we want it to be as long as we’re willing to build it.
People just need to be brave. 53.1% of us are more rightly oriented for change than the minority.
I think that change is happening now. The share of post partisan voters will increase.
“What truly matters is not which party controls our government,” President Trump said in his 2017 inauguration speech, continuing, “but whether our government is controlled by the People.”
Whatever you think about the President, that speech was a strategy statement, and the People are responsible for its execution. The two major political parties are a barrier to self-governance and gatekeepers of political support and advocacy. The moment for change is now.
Bright side: While the rest of the nation writes off the Centennial State as a communist lost cause, the People of Colorado are the tip of the spear for what comes after the people abandon the parties to the point they don’t matter.
The Golden Age of America isn’t something we’re going to inhabit and occupy. It’s something we’re going to build.
A Republic for the next 250 years.
Happy Birthday, America!
Ashe Epp is a local writer, host, and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Jun 29, 2026 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA
— OPINION
Most Coloradans – and Americans – are familiar with Mesa County and the tale of Tina Peters.
Lesser known is the story of Elbert County and former Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder. Schroeder is currently an Elbert County Commissioner and is running for reelection. Clerk Schroeder also took forensic images of Dominion machines prior to Griswold’s 2021 “trusted build,” though he successfully avoided the political persecution of Tina Peters.
Why? Because taking images of voting machines was lawful in 2021. It didn’t become unlawful until 2022 and the Colorado Election Security Act (SB22-153).
The difference between Tina Peters and Dallas Schroeder is that Dallas took the images himself, while Tina Peters hired an outside expert to do the job — and she made some missteps in the execution for which she has expressed contrition.
Clerk Schroeder imaged the Elbert machines in 2021. Secretary of State Jena Griswold didn’t find out about it until Schroeder disclosed the existence of the images in a lawsuit against her later that year.
In court in November 2022, former Deputy Secretary of State Chris Beall got quite heated about Clerk Schroeder’s beliefs, concluding that his speech made him a security risk. “…those statements caused us to understand him. Clerk Schroeder is a security risk,” Beall said.
He also lost his temper, stating, “…this fight to um, PROVE that uh the 2020 election was, was tampered with. uh, It’s a fantasy!”
He then apologized for his outburst.
Upon learning about the existence of these images, Secretary Griswold repeated the playbook she used with Peters, sending a flurry of press releases slandering the Elbert Officials and telling the public there was a “breach.”
A legal battle ensued and, following a court order, Schroeder delivered all copies of the images to Secretary Griswold.
Griswold and CDOS also appointed a babysitter to oversee future Elbert elections. Note that was the year that Tina Peters was on the ballot, running for Secretary of State.
Elbert county is small with around 25,000 active voters currently (it was ~22,000 in 2022). The CDOS consultant/babysitter was present from the beginning to the end of the primary election in Elbert County. She produced a report that suggested the county buy bigger monitors.
Note that pretty much every recommendation in the report is preceded with some variation of, “While the county operated in accordance with applicable law…” In other words, “I got nothing, but I have to come up with some sort of recommendations or Jena won’t pay me.”
Think I am exaggerating? From the report summary:
“Elbert County conducted the day-to-day operations of administering the 2022 Primary Election through Election Day in substantial compliance with applicable laws and rules… The County appears well-equipped to conduct future elections with current staff, facilities, and resources. Therefore, it is my recommendation that the Secretary terminate her Election Order 2022-09, dated June 9, 2022, at this time.” Read the full report on my substack.
Note that Secretary Griswold ignored the finding from her appointed babysitter to terminate supervision — the babysitter was also present for the general election in November 2022. Elbert County continued to have CDOS elections babysitters through 2024.
“If there is nothing to hide, and Colorado is the ‘Gold Standard,’ then I challenge Ms. Griswold to use our images and prove it,” Dallas Schroeder said in 2022. He was ignored.
CDOS made a huge media splash with at least four press releases attacking Elbert County elected and elections officials. Those press releases are also archived and linked on my substack.
The department would likely say they issued all those slanderous releases to keep the public informed. But then they ignored the report’s recommendations and went silent in the press when the Elbert officials were vindicated. CDOS literally never told the citizens of Colorado the end of the story.
And it gets worse.
CDOS never sent the report — the report with the findings and recommendations — to Clerk Schroeder. That’s strange, because the clerk is the official who would be required to implement the findings and recommendations, and they never sent it to him.
The conduct of CDOS towards Elbert County, alone, implies that this whole saga wasn’t about election administration or security at all. It was about political narratives and ostensible cover ups.
Abuse of power.
Weaponization of government.
While CDOS didn’t send the report to the county, they did send an invoice — for $30,000.
Why is this important now? The key question is: What is going on with these images?
Has CDOS analyzed the drives? What did they find? Have they been compared to the Mesa images? Do they still have them? Are they going to publicly apologize for their treatment of Elbert County, Schroeder, and his team?
Clerk Schroeder asked for the images back a couple of times according to sources close to the matter. First he was told that the matter was still under investigation then, later, he was told that the images were on a litigation hold for the case against Tina Peters. Schroeder was prevented from testifying at Peters’ August 2024 trial, after being sworn in.
For my part, I’ve always believed those images were destroyed. I made a bet to that effect.
I’d be extremely happy to lose that bet.
As Schroeder said: If they have nothing to hide, they should prove it.
Ashe Epp is a local writer, host, and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | May 19, 2026 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA
— OPINION
Republicans in Colorado are trading representation for control — and calling it “conservatism.”
How we give our consent to be governed matters. But it’s worse than fake elections. The founding idea of representation itself has been abandoned (almost entirely) in favor of personality-based battles for the right to claim decision rights.
Explain to me how wielding a massive government apparatus for social change is a conservative value?
You can’t. It’s not.
In recent weeks, apportionment (redistricting) lawsuits have dominated the headlines as both national parties try to rig their way to 270 electoral votes.
Rearranging districts to protect incumbents or expand party-held seats to counter the “representation” of another state is, if we’re being intellectually honest, one of the purest forms of election manipulation. And it’s been normalized for so long that Americans don’t even question it.
Apportionment only happens in this way because representation was capped at 435 in the House of Representatives in 1929, so the constitutional ratio of representation has been continually diluted with population growth since the 20th century. As a result, we “require” the intervention of partisan-first legislatures to make the districts “fair.”
My Congresswoman, Representative Lauren Boebert (R, CO-04), “represents” around 756,000 Colorado residents. That’s a 25-fold dilution of representation per capita since America’s founding era.
Now, we’re hearing “kill the caucus” refrains from so-called “Republicans” — again — but if you ask them why they’re abandoning representation, you’re met with disdain-filled and puddle-deep talking points:
“It doesn’t work.”
“It favors the fringe.”
“It’s too volatile and unpredictable.”
If the process favors the fringes, it’s only because the more “mainstream” candidates can’t — or won’t — compete. So, they advocate for petition-only ballot access — centralizing access to the ballot in the hands of the Secretary of State.
Reminder: Centralization creates complexity, and complexity breeds and hides corruption.
Some on “the right” claim petitions are more representative than local, bottom-up organizing. Crazy — that’s a main policy position of progressive legal activists like Marc Elias and Norm Eisen: Centralize elections at the state level and remove the “pageantry of democracy” from the local jurisdictions.
Those guys are both conservatives, right?
The real answer to why Republicans are attempting to destroy the most accessible and representative process for ballot access that we have is simple: It’s too hard.
It’s not actually hard, but it is involved. It’s ground game and education and building networks — building party infrastructure for intentional change. Those raising the banner most highly point to dwindling party engagement and a devastating Republican brand problem.
Both of those data points are true. But they’re the natural and intended outcomes of open primaries, poor resource allocation, and sustained Republican infighting.
Republicans haven’t tried building party infrastructure — and Republicans with the backing of the donor class spend their time fighting those who do.
On the other side of that divide, largely self-organized groups inside the counties — the so-called “fringe” — have done the work. They recruited their neighbors and drove people to caucus and organized for their candidates and causes in advance of the Assembly. They built coalitions and worked phones and knocked doors and evangelized representation to unexpecting Colorado voters at bars and sporting events and grocery stores. Show up — make your voice heard.
They built relationships. They won hearts and minds. Again, it’s not hard. But it’s also not easy.
At this point, critics will shout about Unaffiliated voters — that the caucus process disenfranchises them. That’s nonsense.
Unaffiliated (UAF) voters — now more than 50% of Colorado’s electoral franchise — can vote in either party’s primary but not participate in caucuses. When one party lacks competitive primaries, UAFs can (and do) cross over and influence the other party’s nominee selection.
The caucus preserves internal party business for party members — and if we have open primaries (which I also, as a proud unaffiliated voter, oppose) UAFs can still vote in the actual primary. They shouldn’t. If parties have no control over their own candidate selection, they’re ideologically incoherent and have no real purpose. This is where we are now — with recent litigation and years long internal warring allowing UAFs to select Republican candidates.
If you’re going to have a party at all, it must be coherent. It arguably should be the people, in community, organizing for change (as opposed to dark money anointing the next “representative”).
But the caucus is unpredictable and messy — just like America — and requires that you earn legitimate power through your ideas and hard work to make those ideas heard. More importantly, it upends the centrally managed corporate structure where candidates line up before (bipartisan) donors for their chance to lose on purpose.
That’s terrifying for those next in line.
When ordinary Americans read the rule book, learn the bylaws, and decide they can play, too, the establishment demands their access be abolished. They change the bylaws or find loopholes and expend resources to enter court.
Welcome to the brand problem.
The 2022 assembly was the largest attended in a decade. The years that followed were marred by financial scandal and inter-party lawsuits and a shadow GOP and competing official meetings — and arguably irreparable fractures in any potential for unity.
The 2026 assembly was one of the least attended.
But rather than be honest about that journey…
“See! We told you it doesn’t work! Bring on rank choice voting!”
“Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.” — Thor Heyerdahl
To recap, the ratio is diluted, the districts are rigged, and the party apparatus inverted power and is now advocating to abolish bottom-up representation in favor of central control.
“A Republic, if you can keep it.” — Benjamin Franklin
Ashe Epp is a local writer, host, and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
by Ashe in America | Apr 17, 2026 | Feature Story Bottom Left
ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
The El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Speaks Out About External Influence In Colorado’s Democracy
El Paso County Clerk & Recorder Steve Schleiker quietly resigned as Vice President of the Colorado County Clerks Association (CCCA) in early March, and he also withdrew El Paso County from active membership in the non-governmental organization.
In late March, Schleiker released his reasons for leaving, and they are explosive.
“After careful consideration, I made the decision several weeks ago to resign as Vice President of the Colorado County Clerks Association and to withdraw El Paso County from active membership. This was not a decision I made lightly.” ‘
Schleiker says that his decision was “driven by concerns about independence, transparency, and the role of external influence within what is intended to be an independent association.”
After this news broke, I requested open records from several counties and received both his resignation letter as well as his notification letter to his clerk colleagues. Both letters are published in full on my Substack.
Schleiker named names.
“It has been difficult to watch what appears to be one individual in Denver, Martha Tierney, attorney for the Colorado Democratic Party, exert significant influence over election-related legislation, directing caucus positions and outcomes.”
He also alleged that CCCA Executive Director Matt Crane and CCCA President Carly Koppes prohibited him from attending certain meetings, even though he was the NGO’s elected Vice President. “I was not permitted to participate in certain executive-level meetings with the Secretary of State’s Office. I was informed this was due to a lack of trust from that office, and that participation would be delayed until others were more ‘comfortable.’”
But he believes those reasons were dishonest.
“After receiving that information, I reached out directly to the Secretary of State as well as multiple members of her staff. Each of them shared with me that these conversations had not occurred. That response raised additional concerns for me and led me to believe this situation was developed internally by the CCCA President and Executive Director.”
In response to Clerk Schleiker’s story going public, Clerk Koppes reportedly disputed his characterization, according to a summary from Complete Colorado:
“Koppes said Schleiker’s interpretation of the events are not accurate, saying the meetings Schleiker is referring to historically are held between the president of the organization, the executive director, and various stakeholder groups to discuss upcoming events, legislation, and other things pertinent to the organization. Koppes has the authority to expand those at the meetings to also include the president-elect and the vice president. Because this is her last year, Koppes says she was considering doing that so those two roles would be more informed as they took over the organization into the next year. However, some of the stakeholder groups’ members came to Koppes concerned about Schleiker’s views.”
Upon reading the characterization of Koppes’ position, I reached out to Clerk Schleiker. In his resignation letter, he said he wasn’t going to speak to the press about his resignation; but since the CCCA was disputing his story, I thought maybe he would change his mind.
He did, and he wrote me back — with even more allegations against the professional association. More on that below, but first some backstory.
The CCCA is run by Matt Crane, a former Arapahoe County clerk who has been the subject of great controversy since 2020. Crane is the mastermind of the recent CCCA statements demanding Tina Peters remain in prison. I wrote about that back in December when Elbert County Clerk Rhonda Braun bravely, publicly, rebuked the CCCA’s position as not representative of the clerks.
Crane is the main point of escalation for the clerks on all things election related. He also has the perception of a conflict of interest there. From Holly at Altitude back in 2021:
“It turns out Crane’s wife worked at Sequoia Voting Systems, which was acquired by Dominion Voting, for over 17 years… Matt Crane was working in influential election roles, bouncing between the public and private sector… Crane’s work included influencing, recommending, and distributing voting systems; shaping voter legislation, budgeting, designing and implementing voter registration, overseeing vendor contracts, and installing operating systems, the list goes on.”
Consider the investigation of Tina Peters’ Mesa County reports. The investigator called Matt Crane to craft the official narrative debunking those reports’ findings. That audio was released in February 2025. On the audio, you hear the investigator call and explicitly ask Mr. Crane how to debunk the findings.
Clerk Schleiker doesn’t stop with external influence. In response to my request for comments, the clerk makes additional allegations of retaliation and county interference by the CCCA principals:
“…an emergency meeting was convened by the Association’s leadership where my character and decision were discussed in a negative manner…Shortly thereafter, the Executive Director independently contacted several of El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s vendors and spoke negatively about me and the situation…”
Why is the head of a professional association reaching out to county vendors and allegedly disparaging the elected clerk in that county while ostensibly discussing county business?
External influence, sure, but this is external interference. Matt Crane has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
Clerk Schleiker is raising red flags.
What is your clerk saying about this, and are they still paying dues to the CCCA?
You should ask.
Ashe Epp is a local writer, host, and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
