A recount of votes in the GOP primary for Colorado secretary of state shows what election officials knew to be true from the first round of counting: Tina Peters, an election denier, did not come close to winning her primary election.

The results affirmed what county clerks initially reported: Peters lost the election by 88,578 votes.

“In the face of unparalleled pressure and scrutiny, (election workers) have stayed focused on our ultimate goal: ensuring that every eligible Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated voter has their voice heard,” said Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold in a written statement. “Repeating a lie over and over does not make it true. Colorado’s elections are secure, and voters can be confident in them.”

In all 64 counties combined, Peters gained 13 votes, Pam Anderson gained 13 and Mike O’Donnell gained 11. The change in vote tallies is based on ballots that needed judges to determine which way a person voted as well as 37 uncounted ballots cast in Elbert County that were discovered last week. The percentages and Peters’ loss remained the same: Anderson received 43.06% of the vote as the winner of the primary, Peters received 28.86% and O’Donnell received 28.08%.

Peters, the Mesa County clerk and recorder who sought the GOP nomination for secretary of state, ran a campaign focused on casting doubt about the state and country’s election systems and claimed without evidence that the 2020 presidential election and following elections were “stolen” or fraudulent, including her own. Peters had the backing of high-profile election conspiracy theorists, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who supported her financially, as well as Steve Bannon, former President Donald Trump’s chief strategist who was found guilty of criminal contempt of Congress.

The clerk herself has been indicted by a Colorado grand jury over allegations of election equipment tampering and she faces multiple criminal and civil investigations.

Still, Peters was able to raise the more than a quarter of a million dollars required to pay for a recount, getting more money from supporters after she lost than she did during the regular campaign. She had to pay for it herself because she didn’t get enough votes to trigger an automatic recount, barely getting enough to place second in the race over O’Donnell.

“People were hoodwinked — I don’t care if they live in Colorado or not, they were hoodwinked,” said Mike Beasley, lobbyist for the Colorado County Clerks Association, of Peters’ donors. “This is either the gold standard of stupidity on behalf of these candidates or it is a scam to take people’s money. I’m not sure which.”

Colorado County Clerks Association Executive Director Matt Crane told The Denver Post he views Peters’ recount fundraising effort the same way he views the scam emails people once received about Nigerian princes who supposedly left them inheritance money.

“I don’t know which is worse,” Crane said, adding that “she knows damn well the systems are accurate.”

This is the first statewide recount in about 20 years, according to the secretary of state’s office. In one other recount for the GOP primary in Senate District 9, paid for by candidate Lynda Zamora Wilson, the net change of votes was one extra for opponent incumbent Sen. Paul Lundeen.

Peters spread lies throughout the process about the states’ Dominion Voting Systems machines — a frequent target of election deniers — and kept demanding the votes be recounted by hand, despite election rules requiring recounts be conducted in the same manner as the original election. She also filed a lawsuit with other former candidates in Denver District Court, claiming that the recount was being conducted unfairly, particularly in El Paso County where Peters also challenged the cost estimates for a recount, and she asked for it to be halted. Crane and other election officials strongly dispute all of Peters’ allegations.

Peters and her campaign did not return requests for comment on Thursday.

A Republican and former clerk himself, Crane said it was “staggering” how little Peters understands about the elections process — a process she was in charge of overseeing as a county clerk.

“Unfortunately, there’s a group of people who have really, really tied themselves to the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, and there’s no amount of fact or data that you can show them to be able to change their mind. They really think Tina Peters is a hero and I’m here to tell you she’s not a hero. She has disgraced herself and her office. She violated her oath and probably the law,” he said.

If Peters were a Democrat who was making these claims, Crane said the people who support her now would have laughed her out of the room, but because her supporters believe they’re defending Trump, “they just suspend all common sense.”

The 37 additional completed ballots found in Elbert County were located in a tray of undeliverable ballots last week. Elbert County Clerk and Recorder Dallas Schroeder informed the secretary of state’s office about the oversight and the secretary of state’s office asked that those ballots be opened and processed in the recount and in the other races that had votes cast.

“It is worth noting that no race was close enough for this number of ballots to change any of the margins of victory for any candidate in Elbert County, or any statewide candidate on Elbert County’s ballot,” Annie Orloff, secretary of state’s office spokesperson, wrote in a statement. “However, as the recounts have provided a mechanism to process and count the ballots, it is appropriate to ensure that all properly cast ballots are counted.”

Both Peters and Schroeder, also a Republican, have sued the secretary of state’s office over allegations of wrongdoing in elections, yet both clerks have now had incidents of uncounted ballots discovered after an election in their counties. In February 2020, Peters reported finding 574 ballots in Grand Junction that weren’t counted in her county’s November 2019 election.

Schroeder did not return a request for comment on Thursday.

According to the secretary of state’s office, aside from Mesa County and Elbert County, there have been no other incidents in at least the past decade of finding unopened ballots after an election that had arrived on time.

Crane said it’s not uncommon for counties to receive a handful of ballots in the mail that may have been sent late and arrived after an election, but he doesn’t recall hearing of any other similar instances like those in Mesa and Elbert counties.

On Wednesday night, Peters filed another lawsuit against Griswold and Colorado county clerks, objecting to the use of Dominion voting equipment in the recount. She asked that the court require Griswold to “certify” the voting systems machines, claiming security vulnerabilities, and called for another recount.

Alternatively, the lawsuit stated, the court could have Griswold complete a hand recount of Peters’ race with the clerks as observers. Peters also said in the lawsuit that the costs of the recount should be paid from the state general fund and the cost of the prior recount be paid by the counties, with the money returned to Peters that she already paid. And she asked that the court order a “forensic examination” of the voting system machines to be conducted by a “cyber expert” Peters chooses.

The lawsuit claimed that there’s evidence to suggest “vote tallies are being artificially controlled,” but Crane said Peters continues to lie to the public about how the elections process actually works.

Beasley said he could stand in front of everyone at the courthouse and count every vote by hand and candidates like Peters still wouldn’t believe the results.

“We all hope as election professionals that the public takes from this that the system works,” he said.

He added that a lawful request was made for a recount and the counties met the challenge and conducted the process accurately and on time, affirming the initial results.

“Enough is enough,” Beasley said. “These aren’t sore losers. These are people who are trying to cheapen and lessen the public support for our election systems and I don’t think that’s going to work here.”

But even if the majority of Coloradans don’t believe Peters, the damage she has caused is clear for Crane and other county clerks. Crane was in Washington, D.C., earlier this week talking to Congress about threats to election officials, which have increased after Peters’ claims. He said clerks are also receiving numerous Colorado Open Records Requests at the urging of Cause for America and U.S. Election Integrity Plan — backed by prominent election deniers — asking for information, much of which either doesn’t exist or doesn’t make sense.

“These people who claim that they’re for election integrity, they’re actually making it much harder for those of us who are serious about election integrity to do this work.”