Colorado secretary of state admits that voting machine passwords were leaked
Recent polling data suggests that many Americans are expressing concerns over whether the results of this year's election could be vulnerable to manipulation.
Those concerns are likely to grow after it was revealed earlier this week that voting system passwords were accidentally made public in Colorado.
GOP vice chair publicizes password leak in mass email
According to Denver's 9 News, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office mistakenly posted a spreadsheet to its website that displayed the secret information on a hidden tab.
That fact was publicized in a mass email sent out on Tuesday by Colorado Republican Party Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman.
Included in the email was a sworn affidavit from an individual who claims to have downloaded the Excel file and discovered passwords by selecting "unhide." The whistleblower's name was blacked out on Scheppelman's email.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Secretary of State's Office provided a statement to 9 News which explained that the agency "is working to remedy this situation where necessary."
Colorado Secretary of State's Office says it "took immediate action"
"The Department took immediate action as soon as it was aware of this and informed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which closely monitors and protects the county's essential security infrastructure," the spokesperson asserted.
"There are two unique passwords for every election equipment component, which are kept in separate places and held by different parties," the spokesperson continued.
What's more, Colorado's Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold later addressed the matter herself during an interview with 9 News on Tuesday.
Griswold's message to Colorado voters: "This is not a security threat"
"To be very clear, we do not see this as a full security threat to the state. This is not a security threat," Griswold was quoted as telling the television station.
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office posted a spreadsheet to its website with a hidden tab that included voting system passwords. https://t.co/HMzrIFZjTR
— 9NEWS Denver (@9NEWS) October 30, 2024
"There are two passwords to get into any voting component, along with physical access," the secretary of state went on to point out.
"We have layers of security, and out of just an abundance of caution, have staff in the field changing passwords, looking at access logs and looking at the entire situation and continuing our investigation," she further added.
