Grand County declines to switch voting systems — for now
June 24, 2025
As written in the Ski-Hi News on Jun 26, 2025
Kyle McCabe/Sky-Hi News
The Grand County commissioners have declined to switch voting systems from Dominion to Clear Ballot — for now.
At the June 24 board of county commissioners meeting, county clerk and recorder Jolene Linke presented a proposal to switch from Dominion to a new system, Clear Ballot. The Grand County Clerk and Recorder’s Office has contracted with Dominion Voting Systems to administer its elections since 2017.
After discussions and public comment, commissioners ultimately decided to continue their contract with Dominion. Commissioners Randy George, Meritt Linke and Ed Raegner all agreed that this was the best decision for the benefit of the clerk and recorder’s office employees, the county’s finances and elections integrity.
Voting systems, which include equipment, software and other services, allow clerk’s offices to uphold one of the most important tenants of democracy — fair and accurate elections.
According to documents obtained by Sky-Hi News, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office had concerns over Grand County’s capability of handling elections in 2023 and 2024. Former county clerk Sara Rosene and former chief deputy clerk Patty Brown were brought in as consultants to ensure the elections were organized, secure and reliable.
Why the proposal to switch voting systems?
At the meeting, Clear Ballot sales representative Matt Dwyer presented the benefits of switching to his company. He said that it is “tried-and-tested in the elections industry” since 2009. If Grand County signed on, it would be one of five Colorado counties with Clear Ballot. The company provides elections equipment and training throughout the U.S.
Jolene Linke expressed that Clear Ballot would be a good choice because its cost is not much different than Dominion Voting System’s and they have new, modern equipment that is more user-friendly than Dominion.
When she ran for the position of clerk and recorder in 2022 (after the retirement of clerk Rosene), Jolene Linke expressed a willingness to discontinue use of Dominion to ensure election validity. These machines have been the center of allegations that 2020 presidential election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden.
According to claims by some conservative media and Trump’s lawyers, Dominion machines were compromised to flip votes from Trump to Biden. Although voting machines have been at the center of a web of conspiracy theories after the 2020 election, there has been no concrete no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines in the election.
At the commissioner’s meeting, Jolene didn’t express any negative sentiment towards Dominion. She did add that county elections lead Joni Morse approved of Clear Ballot, and encouraged Morse to share her thoughts about switching companies.
“The most important thing about this is that Dominion — or Clear Ballot — is mostly used by Joni to make the election work,” Jolene said. “We believe (Clear Ballot) … will be more user-friendly.”
Elections lead weighs in
Morse has handled elections in Grand County since 2022. She agreed with Jolene that Clear Ballot feels easier to use, especially in its software. However, Morse did share a caveat to switching — unfamiliar territory.
She stated she entered the elections world with no experience; “the learning curve has been steep.”
She’s dedicated to improving at all levels, although “there have been challenges, there’s no sidestepping that,” she added.
Despite these challenges, she is now very familiar with Dominion Voting Systems. Morse feels most secure staying with a system that she knows. She added that Dominion staff have always been helpful with training.
Although she expects Clear Ballot staff would also be helpful, she concluded that “going to a system that we’ve never used before, where we have limited staff, brings in some risk.”
Merrit Linke agreed, thanking Morse for her dedication to serving as elections lead.
“I’m a little concerned about so much on your shoulders,” he told her. “You’ve learned this system, now (what if) we were switching systems?”
What is the cost of switching?
Morse then presented the cost estimates provided by both Dominion and Clear Ballot for upcoming years.
Currently, the county is signed with Dominion through the end of 2025, at a cost of about $35,000. If they renew for 2026 and beyond, it would be $168,000 for a 6 to 8-year contract. It would cost $26,000/year for the first and second years, then increase annually, depending on whether it is a 6 or 8-year contract.
Clear Ballot would cost $200,000 for an 8-year contract. The first year would be $39,000, then $161,000 for years two through eight.
While these prices seem similar, the county is already contracted with Dominion. Commissioner Raegner expressed that it didn’t make sense to switch in 2025 and pay double. The county is obligated to pay Dominion the remaining balance for 2025. If they switch now, they would have to pay Clear Ballot, too.
Elections judge and former clerk provide comment
Two additional community members expressed their opposition to switching to Clear Ballot during the meeting’s public comment period.
John Riedel, former co-chair of Grand County Democrats and an elections judge, stated that it didn’t make sense to switch to an unknown company when the clerk and recorder’s office has already faced challenges in administering previous elections. He also referenced the fact that the county was under scrutiny by the secretary of state and had been required to bring in Rosene and Brown as consultants.
After Riedel spoke, Rosene addressed the commissioners. She said her comments were also on behalf of Brown. Rosene, who served as clerk for 32 years, felt strongly that Dominion should continue as the elections system and there was no need to switch in 2025.
She added that Grand County would be the first Colorado county for which Clear Ballot would design and programs ballots. The majority of counties currently do this in-house. Rosene fears that having Grand serve as a “test case” could put voters at risk.
Don’t change horses midstream
After hearing comments from the community, the clerk’s office and Clear Ballot reps, the commissioners agreed now was not the time to change elections systems. The commissioners then gave the following comments during the meeting on their decision not to contract with Clear Ballot this year.
Randy George
“[Both systems] seem to have good reputation in terms of their reliability and accuracy. I know there have been allegations against certain elements of the Dominion system. To the best of my knowledge, none of those are proven true. I’m well aware that Colorado has a very robust verification process.”
Ed Raegner
“In general, anything that would lessen the load for any county employee, I’m generally all for … but the thing (Joni) said that hit me was to eliminate risk. It seems like staying the course is the way to go with this … Eliminating the risk in this situation is the more important factor.”
Meritt Linke
“Grand County has a history of elections integrity for years and it’s used Dominion. I’m not seeing really clear evidence why this is a good system to switch to … I’m seeing some slight advantages (and) disadvantages and pros/cons to each for sure. The biggest con I see for this change is based on that we’re already sort of under the microscope for the state to look at … throwing a change on top of that could really be damaging potentially to our election process … I think we need to get our ducks in a row a little bit better; get some more people trained.”
The three commissioners expressed a willingness to revisit the topic in the future, perhaps before the next general election. Jolene Linke also plans to weigh the pros and cons of Clear Ballot ahead of the county’s budget hearings next month, she said.
Ideally, the commissioners would like to have a meeting with both Dominion and Clear Ballot representatives to make the most informed decision on how to serve voters in the future.