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MAJOR UPDATE BELOW! We are supposed to believe that our election process is safe and extremely secure. If so, then why were the voting system passwords online for MONTHS on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website?
The entire report about this is something to behold.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office inadvertently posted a spreadsheet to its website with a hidden tab that included voting system passwords.
In a statement to 9NEWS, a spokesperson for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said that “the Department is working to remedy this situation where necessary.”
Wait, what? “Where necessary?” These passwords were on a spreadsheet that was ON the Colorado Secretary of State’s website. To me, remedying the situation means A. yanking the entire spreadsheet off the website and B. IMMEDIATELY changing all the system passwords.
What’s even more egregious is the lackadaisical attitude from the officials 9news interviewed.
The passwords that were in the hidden tab are known as BIOS passwords and are one part of the security process for Colorado’s voting machines.
They are passwords needed to configure system settings.
“There are two unique passwords for every election equipment component, which are kept in separate places and held by different parties. Passwords can only be used with physical in-person access to a voting system,” a spokesperson for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said.
~Snip
Matt Crane, a former Republican Arapahoe County Clerk and current executive director of the Colorado Clerks Association, said the fact that the passwords were online, albeit hidden, is concerning, but that the group is satisfied with the actions the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is taking.
“The truth is, is this a concern? Yes,” Crane said. “Is it being mitigated? Yes. Does this mean that all of the computers are connected to the internet and that votes are being flipped? No.”
Crane said that because every voter votes on a paper ballot – yes, mail-in ballots are still paper ballots – any discrepancies can be audited and remedied.
Except that the passwords were online for months. MONTHS. How many months is unclear. But nothing to worry about folks. It’s all being mitigated, “where necessary.” C’mon Matt!! Do we believe that votes are being flipped? No. Do we have a right to be concerned that the voting systems across the state could’ve been tampered with these last few months because the passwords were online? ABSOLUTELY!!
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office inadvertently posted a spreadsheet to its website with a hidden tab that included voting system passwords.
— Marshall Zelinger (@Marshall9News) October 29, 2024
How do we know? Someone right-clicked "unhide."https://t.co/MKU59fnM2l #copolitics
Jena Griswold, who sued and FAILED to keep President Trump off the Colorado ballot, has been consistently and stridently assuring Coloradoans that the entire election process is secure. So secure that no independent third party audits are necessary.
I’m sure it was all just an accident. I mean, who doesn’t leave passwords for voting machines that could change the outcome of a Presidential election on the Secretary of State's website.
— Eric Pistey (@shawnpisteySC) October 30, 2024
If they are so secure, how come ballots in three counties aren’t scannable?
A printer vendor error made some ballots in Moffat, Las Animas and Huerfano counties unscannable, county clerks confirmed to 9NEWS Tuesday.
According to a news release, Moffat County Clerk and Recorder Stacy Morgan was made aware of the issue Wednesday. Huerfano County posted about the issue on their Facebook page Monday, and Las Animas County told 9NEWS they believe they discovered the issue Friday.
Things are so secure in this state, that no one is tampering with any ballots. Oh…wait!
Colorado authorities are investigating an incident in which at least 12 mail ballots appear to have been intercepted before reaching voters intended to receive them, according to a statement from the state’s top elections official on Thursday.
With those passwords having been online for months, how do we KNOW that no one tampered with any of the voting systems across the state?
Quite frankly, I believe Jena about as much as I believe Joe’s garbage insult was just the result of a misplaced apostrophe!
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
Whomever thought it was a grand idea to post the voting system passwords ONLINE needs to be identified and fired ASAP. And Jena Griswold needs to explain why her office is so careless with the security of the state’s voting systems.
UPDATE: The Colorado Secretary of State’s office did NOT start fixing the issue and changing passwords until the media started reporting on it.
Voting machines used by county clerks are listed on a spreadsheet on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website. The machines are listed by serial number, county, model and vendor.
~snip
A spokesperson for Griswold said the office did not start having any of the passwords changed until the security issue became public on Tuesday. Her office also did not notify county clerks until it became public.
“It’s bad. Let me emphasize that we have other precautions in place, but the fact that a serious breach occurred is troubling,” Republican former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams said.
Guess what systems Colorado is using for our super secure voting security? You guess it. Dominion. Which is having MAJOR problems right now.
Feature Photo Credit: 2024 election pin via iStock, cropped and modified
GWB says: To me, remedying the situation means A. yanking the entire spreadsheet off the website and B. IMMEDIATELY changing all the system passwords.
Well, that’s what they were doing, so….
Don’t freak out too much. Using paper ballots is key (it provides a real count of votes). And the fact you have to have access to the machines – if they’re not online, you have to be physically present to do anything. But finding out about it a week before election day? Yeah, that’s bad. Thinking that hiding a tab in a spreadsheet is security? Yeah, that’s very bad. (Though, I’m betting someone hid it ages ago and lots of people who work with the spreadsheet didn’t even know it was there.) The fact some knucklehead posted work product to the gov’t website without vetting it? F***ing priceless.
And, yes, while those votes are probably secure (well, except for the mail-in ballot stuff), it’s emblematic of a group of folks who don’t seem to think it’s important to secure the vote.
Picture gov’t ID, purple finger, paper ballots.*
(* Though, being a geek, I would like to see a system that allows you to use the technology while giving the voter multiple opportunities to spot discrepancies and call them out, and gives several independent counts.)
Michael says: Don’t worry… I’m SURE that this is the ONLY security lapse made by the Colorado bureaucracy. Just see how concerned they are about this, and how quickly they moved to fix the problem? It’ll all be fine. Trust them.
Scott says: Don’t believe for a second that this was a “lapse” Griswold has worked non-stop to ensure that President Trump isn’t reelected, by any means necessary, and this is just one more step in that plan. I have NO doubt that this was intentional.
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