Williams to follow Gessler as secretary of state

Republican Wayne Williams beat Democrat Joe Neguse, Libertarian David Schambach and Amanda Campbell of the American Constitution Party to replace Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who opted not to run for a second term.

Williams is a strong supporter of voter-identification laws and will bring years of experience from his position as the current El Paso County clerk and recorder, and former county commissioner.

He was endorsed by Gessler, who was slapped with an ethics violation for taking taxpayer-funded Republican junket and raised the ire of open-elections supporters when, unsuccessfully, he spent much of his tenure trying to sniff out evidence of voter fraud.