When Colorado voters emphatically rejected Proposition HH by 20 percentage points, they sent an unequivocal message to Gov. Jared Polis and the Democrat-controlled Legislature: Keep your hands off our TABOR refunds.

The subsequent special session called by Jared Polis veered off-course — approving bills that brought little property tax relief while utterly disregarding voters’ wishes on Prop HH. Moreover, as I explored Friday, the State House became a home for unabashed bigotry when Rep. Elisabeth Epps went on an unhinged, antisemitic tirade that sparked widespread, bipartisan condemnation.

These events handed the Colorado Republican Party a golden political opportunity on a silver platter: to seize the narrative and cast Democrats as the tone-deaf architects of discord.

Not to be outdone by “those crazy Democrats,” however, the state GOP astonishingly urged county Republican parties not to accept and certify the election results.

It was a stunning turnabout for a party whose leadership publicly praised “a vigilant electorate” for “rightfully rebuffing” Prop HH. In a public email, Chairman Dave Williams properly pronounced its defeat as “a resounding triumph for the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and fiscal responsibility.”

“(C)redit for this victory against Prop HH ultimately belongs to the voters who refused to let extreme Democrats pull the wool over their eyes and the countless citizens who worked tirelessly to educate their neighbors,” he wrote in a refreshing email — praising the anti-Prop HH coalition for “empower(ing) Coloradans to make an informed choice that reflects their values.”

Williams was right: Colorado voters stood up for TABOR — once again rejecting a scheme widely pilloried for brazen deception.

So, why is the Colorado Republican Party now officially rebuking everything Williams himself said — urging its associates to disregard the “informed choice” of “vigilant” voters?

In Colorado elections, each county has a canvass board made up of the clerk and recorder and an appointed representative from both the Republican and Democratic parties. This board participates in pre-election testing and the post-election audit and then conducts the “canvass” — a formal review and certification of election results.

“I CANNOT recommend county canvass boards certify this most recent Colorado election,” Ron Hanks, the chairman of the party’s Ballot and Election Security Committee, wrote in a Nov. 22 email.

“Certifying this election will imply our acceptance of a disastrous process and declare we acquiesced to their systemic fraud and personal corruption,” Hanks added, lambasting the supposed “sham” election process for being “unchanged” since 2020. As one everyday Republican told me, “It seemed like one of those clickbait emails.”

Hanks peddles several bases for rejecting the results, but his assertions crumble under scrutiny. For example, he falsely claims Colorado’s voting equipment is uncertified. In reality, it’s rigorously certified by both federal and state authorities.

Hanks deems canvass boards an “irrelevant…facade of citizen oversight” due to problematic rules changes by Secretary of State Jena Griswold. Having been a two-time canvass board member myself, I’d say it’s obvious he doesn’t understand the board’s role. Hanks ignores the fact that citizens, not county employees, conduct Colorado’s elections. The canvass boards themselves are appointed by county Republican and Democratic parties, as are poll watchers.

Let’s be serious: While Griswold has made numerous blunders and terrible judgment calls, Hanks’ claims lack any grounding in reality.

Then again, Hanks and his unidentified elections committee lack the credibility needed for serious election scrutiny. A former state legislator, Hanks reportedly holds a commercial driver’s license — a credential for transporting goods, not conducting elections.

Hanks stubbornly insists Trump won the 2020 election and possibly in Colorado, despite a 14-point loss here — an idea Democrats used to paint the GOP as election deniers by funneling dark money to support his failed 2022 U.S. Senate campaign. Hanks’ campaign released a bizarre video featuring an exploding copier labeled “Dominion Voting Machine.”

Hanks also repeatedly made fantastical claims on the policy side, such as his assertion that Congress could easily slash 70% of the federal budget — even though defense and interest payments alone surpass 30%.

Let’s be real: Ron Hanks’ history of falsities and histrionics commands skepticism, not authority.

Why entrust the party’s credibility to a conspiracy theorist with a narrative to prove, rather than a seasoned county clerk or former secretary of state? How does the Colorado GOP think Hanks’ protest will possibly change anything?

Republicans finally scored some major electoral victories, yet party officials still can’t bring themselves to accept the results.

They’ve chosen victim over victor — believing that the story of Republican warriors for election rejection trumps the classic tale of conservative champions for fiscal responsibility and TABOR. What is the endgame?

By outright discouraging local parties from certifying local election results — refusing to accept the outcomes of a democratic process it encouraged — the state GOP delegitimizes its own existence and undermines any semblance of seriousness.

The Colorado Republican Party empowered Hanks to formally disregard the will of the voters — the same voters who were praised by the party chairman not three weeks ago. By clinging to this self-defeating narrative, the party diminishes its position, including the ability to define the Democratic Party by the radicals in its ranks.

In politics, credibility is currency. Spent recklessly, it’s hard to earn back. The Party of Lincoln would be wise to keep this in mind.

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and host of “The Jimmy Sengenberger Show” Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on News/Talk 710 KNUS. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.