El Paso County Clerk addresses election security concerns after Presidential address

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - On Thursday night, President Donald Trump addressed the nation, saying that elections across the country were rigged and unsecured.

"Great damage has been done to our country. Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost," President Trump said from the White House on Thursday night.

Less than 24 hours after the prime time speech, KRDO13 took the president's claims to El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker to find out about El Paso County's elections.

"When we're sitting here taking a look at everything that goes into it, you know, for the election system here in El Paso County, that system is completely air gapped," Schleiker told KRDO13.

Schleiker says the voting system remains secure because of patrols and electronic capabilities.

"[The voting system] has no network interface cards, no wi-fi cards, no Bluetooth capability, nothing. It cannot connect to an external network. In addition, the system on a 24 over seven surveillance, cipher locks just a number of different things. and also we have armed security that, you know, patrols outside of this room as well," Schleiker said.

However, this doesn't mean Schleiker thinks the election security is perfect.

"I will tell you, you can always improve the system. You can go above and beyond the current statute," he added.

Schleiker says since he's been in office, he's taken the opportunity provided by federal grants to improve election security in the county.

"We have upgraded our camera systems, we have upgraded ballot box systems, we [have] upgraded the security systems," Schleiker said.

Reflecting on the past six years since fraud claims became a popular topic for President Trump, Schleiker says he has spent a lot of extra time answering people's questions about the security of our local elections. From groups inviting his office to speak, to individuals coming to the clerk's office, he says his door is always open.

Schleiker encourages anyone with questions about El Paso County elections to reach out.

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