April 07, 2023 04:21 PM UTC

Sallie Clark, Sore Loserman

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As Colorado Springs’ KRDO-TV reports, narrowly (but not that narrowly) eliminated mayoral candidate Sallie Clark is inquiring about the cost of a recount of her loss to former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, who in turn lost by a much bigger margin to political newcomer Yemi Mobolade:

A candidate in the race to be the next mayor of Colorado Springs is requesting information on the cost of a recount of mayoral ballots.

Friday afternoon, KRDO obtained a request for the estimated cost of a recount by candidate Sallie Clark to the City of Colorado Springs stating that she is “considering a recount of the election pursuant to state and city election law.”

Speaking with the Colorado Springs Gazette, Clark says it’s about making election integrity great again:

In an interview Friday, Clark said she was considering making the request so she could be more confident in the local voting system.

“The results of this election are historically narrow and I want to make sure that we get it right so there’s no question about the integrity of our elections here in Colorado Springs, and to really instill confidence in the system.”

In recent years there has been a nationwide debate about the integrity of elections at all levels, after former President Donald Trump claimed the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from him through widespread fraud. Local and state leaders in Colorado and elsewhere have refuted those allegations.

As of this writing, Wayne Williams is holding his berth in the runoff over Clark by 1,550 votes. That’s well outside the range to trigger an automatic recount, and as we know from the recent frivolous recount requested by 2022 Republican Secretary of State primary loser and indicted election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters, there is absolutely no reason to expect that many votes to flip in either direction in a recount of a Colorado election.

So why go down this road at all? It appears that Sallie Clark is just as prone to baseless election second-guessing as any other Trump-era Republican. If you can’t accept the results of one election, how can you trust any election ever again–especially one you don’t win? It doesn’t matter that Sallie Clark, or for that matter the Colorado Springs mayoral race, is not important enough to merit an election-stealing conspiracy. Once you’ve opened the door to election denial, you’re never really the same kind of politician.

Losing with grace is part of the game, and leaves a candidate viable for a future run.

This is not that.