EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — The Colorado Republican Party voted late Tuesday to install a neutral group of outsiders to supervise the El Paso County GOP's upcoming leadership elections in response to complaints from local Republicans who said they don't trust incumbent county chair Vickie Tonkins to run a fair election.
The 139-123.8 vote came at the end of an unprecedented and often contentious online meeting of the state GOP's central committee called earlier this month by outgoing state party chair Kristi Burton Brown. The results include fractional votes because multiple people split some offices.
Late Monday, Tonkins and a handful of local party officers filed a lawsuit against the state party and Burton Brown, arguing that the state party is overstepping its authority under state law and GOP bylaws.
The conflict revolves around who will run the local county party's Feb. 11 reorganization meeting in Colorado Springs, when local Republicans are slated to elect a county chair, vice chair and secretary to two-year terms. Tonkins, who has chaired the county party since late 2018, is running for another term.
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