DENVER, CO - Colorado's Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold is facing major scrutiny and heavy criticism after her office reportedly unintentionally posted a spreadsheet online containing a hidden tab holding the passwords to 63 of 64 counties' voting systems. The Secretary of State's office and Griswold herself have made statements seeming to minimize the issue, however, prominent Colorado Republicans broke the story to the public and have expressed alarm.
As reported by 9NEWS, when the issue became public, a spokesman for Griswold's office said, “the Department is working to remedy this situation where necessary.”
Kyle Clark of 9NEWS reported, that Griswold, "called a 2021 leak of voting system passwords by a Republican clerk 'a serious breach of voting system security protocols.' But Griswold tells me that her office's leak of voting system passwords is not a serious breach."
Interviewing Griswold, he observed that this isn't the first, but one in a series of errors "undermining voter confidence," referring back to previous issues of the state issuing voter registration invitations to approximately 30,000 non-citizens, notifications going out to voters that they hadn't voted and past issues of leaked passwords and asked if she would resign.
The secretary answered, "Absolutely not."
Later in the interview posted to YouTube, Griswold explained that an investigation is ongoing with federal partners and when asked if she would've revealed the matter to the public, answered that "we were still in investigation working with Federal partners and had not made that decision."
The Colorado Republican Party has begun an effort to launch a lawsuit against Griswold with Chairman of the COGOP, saying in a statement, "It's shocking really. At best, even if the passwords were outdated, it represents significant incompetence and negligence, and it raises huge questions about password management and other basic security protocols at the highest levels within Griswold's office."
He added, "We hear all the time in Colorado from Secretary Griswold and Governor Polis that we represent the 'Gold Standard' for election integrity, a model for the nation. One can only hope that by the Secretary of State posting our most sensitive passwords online to the world dispels that myth."
As reported by 9NEWS, when the issue became public, a spokesman for Griswold's office said, “the Department is working to remedy this situation where necessary.”
Kyle Clark of 9NEWS reported, that Griswold, "called a 2021 leak of voting system passwords by a Republican clerk 'a serious breach of voting system security protocols.' But Griswold tells me that her office's leak of voting system passwords is not a serious breach."
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) called a 2021 leak of voting system passwords by a Republican clerk "a serious breach of voting system security protocols." But Griswold tells me that her office's leak of voting system passwords is not a serious breach. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/vClYcZr36t
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 30, 2024
Interviewing Griswold, he observed that this isn't the first, but one in a series of errors "undermining voter confidence," referring back to previous issues of the state issuing voter registration invitations to approximately 30,000 non-citizens, notifications going out to voters that they hadn't voted and past issues of leaked passwords and asked if she would resign.
The secretary answered, "Absolutely not."
Griswold's office has made a series of errors undermining voter confidence: mailing voter registration invites to 30k non-citizens, wrongly notifying voters they hadn't voted, and leaking voting machine passwords. I asked Griswold if she will resign. "Absolutely not," she said. pic.twitter.com/YXiYGNQu2u
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 30, 2024
Later in the interview posted to YouTube, Griswold explained that an investigation is ongoing with federal partners and when asked if she would've revealed the matter to the public, answered that "we were still in investigation working with Federal partners and had not made that decision."
The Colorado Republican Party has begun an effort to launch a lawsuit against Griswold with Chairman of the COGOP, saying in a statement, "It's shocking really. At best, even if the passwords were outdated, it represents significant incompetence and negligence, and it raises huge questions about password management and other basic security protocols at the highest levels within Griswold's office."
He added, "We hear all the time in Colorado from Secretary Griswold and Governor Polis that we represent the 'Gold Standard' for election integrity, a model for the nation. One can only hope that by the Secretary of State posting our most sensitive passwords online to the world dispels that myth."
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