Two Republican candidates for Montezuma County clerk and recorder discussed issues such as mail-in ballots, election security, and the case of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters at a forum Wednesday night in Cortez.
Jerri Frizzell and Lenetta Shull found little to criticize about the current operations of the local clerk’s office.
Frizzell, who has worked in the clerk’s office for 16 years, said she doesn’t think there is much that needs to be changed, though there could be some minor improvements.
Shull, former chair of the Republican party in Montezuma County, said the clerk’s office has “some very nice, hard-working ladies” and she doesn’t want to “tear down that foundation” but rather to build on it by bringing fresh eyes to look at it. She said she wants customer services to be even friendlier than they are.
Shull, who said she has done a great deal of research into the workings of the office and elections, said the systems and process in place in Montezuma County are excellent. She said she would like to help people with education because many people don’t understand how elections work.
The two were asked which department in the office requires the most work. Shull said the Colorado Clerks Association works on legislation and she believes that is the most important aspect of the office. She said the office “has become a tax collector” because of laws setting various fees, and she would like to see clerks band together to seek legislation to reduce such fees.
Frizzell, who said she has worked in all the main departments of the office – motor vehicles, elections, and vital records – said not one takes more work than the others. “Every one is important,” she said.
The candidates described their work experience and familiarity with budgets.
Frizzell said she worked in the motor-vehicle division of the clerk’s office for four years and has been in records for a dozen more. She has helped with elections and is third in command right now, Frizzell said. She said she has owned two restaurants and they did their own payroll and taxes. They now own Bubba’s restaurant in Lewis and Frizzell works as a cook there.
Frizzell said she works seven days a week between her job with the clerk’s office and Bubba’s. She said she believes she can handle both jobs if elected.
Shull said she and her husband operate two food trailers and she has done volunteer work including managing 4-H groups, serving on the school board and dealing with those budgets, and being chair of the Montezuma County Republicans. She also managed two medical laboratories and was second in command for a medical office.
Shull said she has taken a leave of absence from her chairmanship of the Republican party, is no longer on the school board, and may lease the food trucks to other people
Asked whether mail-in balloting is secure, Shull replied, “Here in Montezuma County, I totally believe our mail-in ballots are very secure.” She said there may be more that needs to be done to take care of voter rolls and remove inactive voters.
Frizzell said mail-in ballots are very helpful to people such as senior citizens who may have a difficult time getting out to vote.
However, she said people need to realize that, under current operations of the Postal Service, letters and ballots mailed locally now travel first to Albuquerque to be processed, so it takes longer for ballots to be received at the clerk’s office. Frizzell said people need to mail ballots well ahead of time because they won’t be counted if they don’t make the election deadline.
Frizzell said voters have to take the initiative and tell the clerk’s office if they have moved. She said it would save a great deal of money if people would keep their registrations current.
“We get so many ballots mailed back, it’s unbelievable,” she said.
Shull criticized the fact that people in Colorado are automatically registered to vote when they get or renew a driver’s license. “That’s not the government’s role,” she said.
Frizzell said the laws and processes governing elections are put in place by the state.
Both said the local election system is largely secure.
“If you have any questions, volunteer to be an election judge,” Shull said. “That is the best way to see how it all works.”
They were asked about the case of Tina Peters, former clerk in Mesa County, who was found guilty in 2024 of being involved in a breach of security of her local election system in 2021 in an effort to find evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Peters allowed security cameras to be turned off in restricted areas related to elections, and unauthorized outsiders to be brought into those areas, according to the charges.
Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison. She appealed, and the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the verdict but ordered a lower court to re-evaluate the sentence.
Shull said she has reviewed the case thoroughly. “What she did was illegal,” Shull said. “You can’t have independent people coming in from outside.”
However, she said the sentence was too harsh. “They threw the book at her. We have murderers that don’t get a sentence as bad as that.”
Frizzell declined to comment on the case. “Justice is what justice is,” she said. “I don’t think I should have to give my opinion on that, and I won’t.”
The candidates recently spoke with KSJD. Those interviews are available at
https://www.ksjd.org/2026-05-07/jerri-frizzell-clerk-recorder-race and
https://www.ksjd.org/2026-05-07/lenetta-shull-clerk-recorder-race
