This week, The Gateway Pundit reported that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s website has published approximately 600 BIOS passwords for election equipment in 63 of Colorado’s 64 counties. The unauthorized password exposure was first caught in August this year but is believed to have been published in early June, before the country’s primary election. And they were not removed until the end of October.
9News’ Kyle Clark interviewed Griswold Wednesday afternoon and asked about the severity of the ‘leak’ and the implications of releasing the password. Of course, Griswold downplays and avoids the impact of his office’s actions, specifically, the fallout from the case of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters who was fired, her old password was published. Griswold passwords are either incomplete or out of date. However, Griswold tried to call BIOS passwords “partial” because they are 1 of 2 passwords used by the system: one for the BIOS and one for the operating system.
Translation: when Tina Peters “leaked” (she didn’t) the Mesa password, you should stop using this!!! Five fire alarms!!! Major Offense!!
This is for ONE COUNTY only and the “leaked” password has been removed and changed as part of standard procedure… pic.twitter.com/qgSLozSktx
– CannCon (@CannConActual) October 30, 2024
Certified Ethical Hacker and former Voting System Test Lab tester Clay Parikh joined Badlands Daily to discuss the implications of the leak.
According to a Press Release from Governor Jared Polis, Secretary Griswold stated:
“All passwords in the affected districts have been changed. I want to thank Governor Polis for using extra state resources to help with this effort,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “Colorado has countless layers of security to ensure our elections are free and fair, and every eligible voter needs to know that their ballot will be counted as a cast.”
Ashe Epp of the Colorado Free Press called it a haste to wash his hands of this situation:
This is a stunning declaration from the Executive Branch. Passwords were compromised for months, and There is no way a proper cyber forensic investigation can be done to assure Colorado voters that “every Coloradan can be confident that their vote will be counted fairly and accurately.”
How do Department employees ensure that social engineering during primary elections does not occur? Did the investigation just treat the initial posting as an accident? Are there any investigative steps to confirm that it was an accident?
What about log files? Did the investigators​​​​audit the log files of all 600+ affected devices in all 63 affected counties? What about device actions not captured in log files? Did the investigator use the “Pause Election” feature on any device to log in and change passwords? According to former Clerk Elbert Dallas Schroeder, these actions were not captured in the log files.
COLORADO ELECTION UPDATE: Libertarians Sue Griswold as Gaslights Governor; Call to Add Special Advisorhttps://t.co/rO398gR7ho
– Ashe in America (@AsheinAmerica) November 1, 2024
Colorado Libertarian Party Files Lawsuit
The Libertarian Party (LP) of Colorado has filed suit against Secretary Griswold, as well as Deputy Secretary of State Chris Beall. Griswold has reportedly been on maternity leave since August after giving birth.
LP stated in the petition that the password was on a “hidden sheet in (a) spreadsheet and was not encrypted or protected.” With access to the BIOS password, one can “take control of Colorado’s voting system, which includes the ability to manipulate the system and election results” and “allow the person to remove traces of use by overwriting the system logs needed for future audits,” the filing said.
In section 17 of the Colorado Revised Statute 1-13-708(2) it states “Any person who willfully publishes or causes to be published any password or other confidential information relating to the voting system shall immediately have his lawful access revoked and be guilty of Class 5 misdemeanor.”
According to the lawsuit, instead of taking action against Griswold, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall “issued an emergency, temporary, voting rule change to allow the Secretary to change the password.” This will allow the Secretary’s office to make changes next certification and a few days before the election. The LP said the Deputy Secretary had no authority to make rules and only asked that machines with issued passwords not be used.
Until the publication is announced and corrected on October 29, 2024, early voting has begun and ballots have been scanned. Former Elbert County Clerk Dallas Schroeder, one of the two clerks who created the forensic images before “Believe It” that landed Tina Peters in prison for 8.5 years, was exposed in Badlands Media. Why We Vote podcast that the tabulators in the county were able to publish the results of the scan before being transferred to the Election Management System to publish on Election Day. Furthermore, Schroeder, who is currently the Elbert County Commissioner, also said that the system log file does not show this report every time it runs.
The “Hidden” feature in Dominion Voting Systems ImageCast Central allows anyone with administrative access, including remote access, to count and report the results of scanned ballots prior to Election Day.
Worse, this feature is not visible in the system log… pic.twitter.com/ykZtNvkh5Z
– CannCon (@CannConActual) July 29, 2024
LP’s lawsuit also states:
Access to the voting system will allow users falsify data, change totals, alter procedures, etc. make significant changes to the way the system operates, which includes disable restrictions on certain devices that can be installedsuch as network device.
Due to the violation, “voting devices and systems that reveal passwords are no longer certified according to Help America Vote Act in 2002.”
In 2021, Secretary Griswold took 41 voting machines out of service in Mesa County after Tina Peters was wrongly accused of leaking BIOS passwords and required the purchase of new equipment at the county’s expense, according to the lawsuit. The Secretary also found that “the chain-of-custody of the components cannot be confirmed, including whether the component was accessed and/or modified after May 25, 2021.
This action, given the publication of redacted, outdated BIOS passwords in only one county resulted in the Colorado County Clerks Association supporting Griswold’s ban from Mesa County voting equipment.
According to the Assistance Claim, President Trump’s advisers asked for “a new Trusted build” to be carried out, and an “immediate stop” of the “process of received ballots” in preparation “to rescan all the ballots that have been scanned after. The Build and Logic and Accuracy Tests that It is believed that the new has been completed.
However, LP does not believe this is enough. He requested that:
- the entire Secretary of State’s Office, including Griswold, will not participate in the 2024 General Election.
- every piece of equipment with a leaked password will be decommissioned
- the submitted ballots are counted by hand
- rescinded the temporary rule submitted by Deputy Secretary Beall
- and the Colorado Attorney General is conducting an investigation into the release of BIOS passwords
Hey Colorado!
You cannot use the same computer algorithm that generated your previous password! The algorithm you are using now is known and you need to find a different way to create it.
You use a dictionary of 200 words, 2Ă—2 digit numbers and special characters. pic.twitter.com/bKGYer7x6I
– Mad Liberal (@mad_liberals) 31 October 2024
Sues Griswold’s Libertarian Party by CannCon on Scribd
