The Denver district attorney has launched an investigation into how a spreadsheet of voting system passwords ended up on the Colorado secretary of state’s website earlier this year.
The DA’s office on Monday would not divulge any additional details of the probe beyond confirming an open investigation.
On Oct. 29, Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that a spreadsheet posted publicly on her office’s website for several months “improperly included” a hidden tab that displayed passwords protecting Colorado voting machines in many counties. The office categorized the breach as accidental.
A team of state employees quickly went to country clerk offices to change passwords and shore up security ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Thirty-four of Colorado’s 64 counties were affected, officials found.
State election officials said the breach did not pose a security threat to Colorado’s elections and did not impact how ballots would be counted. A password listed in the spreadsheet would need to be paired with another password kept separately, and the person using them would need physical access to machines kept in secure rooms.
The leak by the Democratic official’s office prompted outcry from the Colorado Republican Party and President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, which called for a temporary halt of processing of mail-in ballots in counties impacted by the breach. The state did not stop counting ballots.
On Election Day, a Denver judge rejected a request by the Libertarian Party of Colorado to require hand-counting of ballots in counties affected by the breach. The judge found that there was no evidence that elections systems had been compromised.
The El Paso County district attorney’s office said in a press release Friday that it had received two affidavits alleging violations of state law. The agency said it would cooperate with the Denver investigation and provide resources as needed.
“This office will review the investigation conducted by the Denver DA’s Office to determine if further investigation should be conducted, and which office is best suited to complete any additional investigation,” the release stated.
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