Colorado's governor is working to address loss of voting system passwords

DENVER – Colorado's Democratic governor said Thursday that he is making state planes and vehicles available to help change voting system passwords that were accidentally leaked on a state website.

The mistake lies in skepticism about voting systems, even though elections in the United States remain fair and reliable across the country.

The passwords remained in a table on the Internet for months, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said on Tuesday. Now local, state and federal authorities are working together to change the passwords by Thursday evening and analyze logs to ensure no tampering occurred.

The Colorado County Clerks Association said in a statement that because Colorado's election systems have multiple safeguards in place and the recovery plan is already in place, county officials can say with confidence that Colorado's elections are secure.

Former President Donald Trump's campaign sent a letter to Griswold expressing concern, which was followed by a similar letter from the Colorado GOP chairman. Griswold responded in a letter Thursday evening, saying that because of the many levels of security, “no single failure can compromise the integrity of the system” and reiterated that the leak posed “no imminent threat.”

Griswold has called Colorado the gold standard for election security, although the leaked spreadsheet stems from a hiccup in 2022.

Colorado's other election security measures include 24/7 surveillance, badge-protected access, and multiple passwords that must be used in person and in secured areas – access is tracked. Voters in Colorado fill out paper ballots that are audited after the election.

The voting system is “built with many layers of security to prevent exactly these types of events,” said Matt Crane, executive director of the association and a former Republican county clerk. “Every official takes this issue seriously and remains focused on delivering the secure and accurate elections that Coloradans expect from us.”

According to a statement from Colorado Governor Jared Polis' office, those tasked with changing the compromised passwords work in pairs under the direct observation of local election officials.

“We want to be able to ensure that all votes in this and all elections are counted fairly and accurately,” Polis said.

“Colorado has countless layers of security to ensure voters’ voices are heard. I am grateful to the Governor for his assistance in quickly correcting this unfortunate mistake,” Griswold said.