Missing seals in 2024 led Secretary of State’s Office to enact oversight on Grand County elections
September 8, 2025In October 2024, nearly two years after Jolene Linke was elected as Grand County Clerk and Recorder, there was a break in the chain of custody with Grand County voting systems. With the Nov. 5 presidential election looming just weeks away, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office intervened, requiring two local consultants to support the county.
What was the break in the chain of custody?
One of the most critical jobs of the clerk’s office is to ensure elections are secure. This includes multiple steps, known as the “chain of custody,” to prevent elections tampering. The chain of custody protects materials storage, software, hardware and more.
Each piece of voting software includes several security and verification measures. This software is loaded onto voting machines before elections begin. Prior to voters heading to the polls, all the machines must be sealed.
According to those involved in the discovery of the break, tamper-evident seals were not put on six voting machines in the run-up to Election Day in 2024.
One seal was missing on each of the six machines, which happened to be tablets designed for handicapped individuals. Clerk staff discovered the seals were missing during a logic and accuracy test of all the systems in October. Once notified, the secretary of state’s office intervened.
According the clerk’s office, the break in the chain of custody did not cause an actual security breach.
Secretary of state employees traveled to Grand County on Oct. 14 to test the six machines to make sure none had been tampered with. Each machine’s software checked out and no aberrations were found, after which the seals were placed.
Who were the consultants?
As a result of the break, Sara Rosene and Patty Brown were brought in to assist the county during the 2024 election. These two consultants had a long history maintaining elections in Grand County.
Rosene served as clerk and recorder for over 30 years before she retired in 2023.
Although officially retired, Rosene continued to help the clerk and recorder’s office administer elections as an elections judge in 2023 and 2024. Retired deputy chief clerk Brown also volunteered as an elections judge during this time.
On Oct. 15, 2024, Rosene and Brown’s roles officially changed from elections judges to consultants.
Brown said in an interview with Sky-Hi News that while six missing seals may not sound like a major issue, the chain of custody is an enormous responsibility to uphold in the hyper-secure world of elections.
“That was a triggering event. … That was a big deal,” Brown explained.
As consultants, Brown and Rosene have the ability to work directly with the clerk’s office. The clerk’s office led by Linke had all new staff as it undertook four elections in 12 months. She and her staff struggled to keep up with the enormous responsibilities of conducting elections, according to documents written by Rosene and Brown.
“The clerk’s office was grateful for the expertise of Rosene and Brown during the 2023 coordinated election, the 2024 presidential primary, the 2024 primary and the 2024 general election,” Linke stated in a July 11 email to Sky-Hi News.
The clerk’s office canceled a planned interview with Sky-Hi News on July 10, instead offering to respond to questions about the break in custody — and subsequent oversight — only by email.
‘It was like a firehose’
Brown stated that once she and Rosene were brought in as consultants, they “responded to problems,” of which the missing seals were just one.
At first, they turned the offer down because they wanted to continue serving as elections judges for Grand County. However, after learning about the break in the chain of custody, the secretary of state’s office required them to step up into a consultant role for their home county.
“It was like a firehose,” Rosene said of the experience trying to train the employees in such a short time period before a presidential election, especially with the office already being short-staffed.
“We were there to keep training and ensure there was a good election. … Really, the ultimate goal of the clerk’s office should be to make sure every qualified elector is allowed to vote,” Rosene said. “That could only be our focus at that point.”
According to Rosene and Brown, the people responsible for placing the tamper-evident seals on the machines were elections judges. But those election judges hadn’t gotten proper training for that task.
Brown added that generally, the responsibility of placing seals falls to the clerk’s staff, not elections judges, who are volunteers, so this wasn’t typical.
“I would say both the involvement of the clerk and the involvement of the chief deputy clerk (Amy Major) was minimal at best,” Brown said of the processes leading up to elections.
Because of their limited involvement, a majority of the work fell on the shoulders of elections lead Joni Morse, who was hired about a month before Rosene retired.
“It’s a big job to do and do it right,” Brown said about running elections. “It’s not a one-man job. Sara and I worked together as a team. … We both worked crazy hours.”
According to Rosene, elected clerks are more hands-off in larger cities. However, in rural communities like Grand where staffing is lean, clerks usually play a more essential role in conducting elections.
What other election slip-ups were corrected?
With support from the retired election officials, Morse worked to rectify mistakes. For example, the candidate options and instructions on overseas ballots for the Granby municipal elections were incorrect and were fixed by clerks, then resent before Election Day.
In another instance, Rosene and Brown discovered that a new security camera at the Kremmling ballot drop-off hadn’t been installed to replace one of the old cameras. This meant that ballots were picked up by election judges for two days without a working camera inside the building.
Overall, Rosene and Brown noted a lack of adherence to strict security and communication protocols required to conduct an election. The overarching problem in their view was an untrained staff. This extended from Linke to all the other employees in the office.
For example, DMV employees were not cross-trained in elections protocols, which can help ensure clear messaging across the county.
“We pretty much had everybody in our office trained and involved,” Brown said of the time she and Rosene worked. “If a customer came in, anybody could answer basic questions. … That hasn’t been true in the (current) office. So it puts an enormous burden on Joni to answer questions.”
Rosene explained that in Grand County, the clerk, chief deputy clerk and election lead all need to constantly research state statutes to stay up to date on what is required of them. This includes online and in-person classes, conferences and more.
By Election Day on Nov. 5, 2024, Rosene and Brown had helped ensure all ballots got to the finish line. The office completed its canvassing process, ensuring that every voter’s ballot was counted. Both political parties in Grand County certified the election, as did the secretary of state.
Role of election judges
The clerk’s staff, Rosene and Brown couldn’t have successfully conducted the election without the dedication of volunteer elections judges.
“We have excellent elections judges, excellent,” Brown said. “Grand County has a really good pool.”
Elections judges, working in bipartisan teams, are required to serve for each election. In Grand County, there are about 50-60 for a general election. Rosene said some counties really struggle to find judges.
“We’ve been really lucky here. People really care,” Rosene said.
Although Rosene and Brown’s contract as consultants ended in December 2024, their term as elections judges will go until 2026. They both plan to serve as judges in the upcoming November 2025 election.
They expect that the clerk’s office can take the reins from them, now that its staff members have been properly trained. Unlike 2024, which was a presidential election, this upcoming election will be for local races only, with two statewide ballot measures.
“That was the goal, that they’d be able to conduct their elections independently,” Brown said. ” … We don’t ever want to see voters not have confidence in our elections. Colorado’s got great elections.”
The Colorado Secretary State’s Office provides an array of tools and support for clerks’ education. For example, employees of the secretary of state offer weekly phone calls and boots on the ground support for every county, including Grand.
Brown and Rosene hope that all Grand County clerk and recorder staff will take advantage of this as they continue to improve and refine their training and processes. At the conclusion of their consulting role, Rosene and Brown wrote a list of recommendations they believed the clerks must take.
“We recognize that elections are extremely difficult and time consuming and that as a new clerk and staff, they have not had the advantage of years of experience and election cycles to develop solid election processes,” they wrote. “Our intent is not to criticize, but to provide constructive feedback.”
Rosene added she and Brown will continue to do everything they can to assist the clerk’s office, which currently has about 13 staff members.
“It’s not that we’ve shut the door if they want help, because elections are a lot,” Rosene said. “I feel so deeply and strongly about administering elections that stepping back is, in my opinion, impossible.”
Looking ahead to Election Day 2025
According to Linke, the clerk’s office “worked hand in hand with Rosene and Brown” during the 2024 general election. So what is the plan in the office to prevent past mistakes, now that Rosene and Brown are no longer consultants?
In the July 11 email, Linke told Sky-Hi News that she and staff have made numerous improvements since fall 2024.
” … The clerk’s office embraced the recommendations of Rosene and Brown and is working with the Secretary of State’s office each week to ensure that this year’s election is competently managed,” Linke stated.
Linke explained that beginning in January, a majority of Grand’s driver’s license, DMV, recording and vitals staff have been receiving elections training with the secretary of state’s office.
Previously, cross-training these employees was a “challenge during 2023 and 2024 because brand new employees cannot learn everything all at once,” Linke added. “With each election, the Clerk’s office staff gains valuable experience to serve the voters of Grand County.”
The office is also dividing tasks between Linke, deputy chief clerk Major and Morse. This ensures that the majority of the work isn’t Morse’s responsibility.
“Rosene and Brown are to be commended for their prior years of service to Grand County voters and their willingness to share their considerable elections knowledge with the new clerk’s office staff in support of future elections,” Linke stated.
Are voting system changes coming?
Grand County is currently contracted with Dominion Voting Systems through 2025. These systems include equipment, software and other services to run elections.
After a presentation by Clear Ballot on June 24, the Grand County Board of Commissioners decided not to change voting systems at that time. Commissioners will revisit the idea of a potential change after the 2025 election.
When Linke ran for Grand County clerk in 2022, she admitted in a candidate forum that she would be open to changing elections systems, in light of claims of potential fraud or system malfunctions during the 2020 presidential election.
Dominion was at the center of allegations that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden. According to claims by some conservative media and Trump’s lawyers, machines were compromised to flip votes from Trump to Biden. Despite the web of conspiracy theories, there has been no concrete no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines in that election.
When reached for comment about this from Sky-Hi News, Linke stated she no longer believes there was election fraud or systems issues in the 2020 election.
“After years of thinking and listening to all the news, things are more clear to me,” she stated.