Calls for the resignation of Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold have grown louder in the wake of her leak of Colorado voting machine passwords to a public state website.
“Will you resign?”
BRUTAL! This interview was a disaster! pic.twitter.com/FXarvEMLF9
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) October 30, 2024
Passwords for all of Colorado’s counties, save one, were available for months in a spreadsheet on a state website. It came to light Griswold knew about the leak but only corrected the mistake five days later, after news of the breach had circulated in the press.
Holy crap the Colorado password “leak” gets worse
CO SoS Jena Griswold knew these voting machine passwords were “leaked” for at least 5 days and made no public statements or orders to change the passwords
It was only once the CO GOP raised the alarm that they were changed
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) October 31, 2024
CO Sec of State Jena Griswold is not sleeping well these days - just look at that face!
The law says if sensitive info about election systems is “wittingly or unwittingly” released that causes harm, then there’s a crime
She used this same standard against Gold Star Mom Tina… https://t.co/Qbqyvc42Kl
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) October 31, 2024
Some officials downplayed the leaks, saying the election remains secure because the passwords represented only one layer of security.
However, the type of password conferred access to the machines’ system settings — but the Colorado GOP says the BIOS passwords are “highly confidential” and confer access to users in the know who could tamper with settings “without a trace.”
Griswold is part of a troubling pattern in Colorado that could either threaten election integrity, or harm Republican chances at the ballot box.
Griswold and the Colorado Supreme Court attempted to remove former President Donald Trump from the ballot in Colorado earlier this year, but their efforts were thwarted when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld 14th Amendment provisions granting that authority to Congress, not to states.
Griswold also kept Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the Colorado ballot, in spite of Kennedy’s efforts to get his name off, after his endorsement of Trump. The move is liable to keep Trump from picking up Kennedy votes in the wake of their joining forces.
“Election-deniers” can hardly be blamed for questioning the integrity of US elections: 15 states don’t require an ID to vote; multiple states, including Ohio, have had to file lawsuits in order for secretaries of state to ensure non-citizens can vote, with Virginia’s victory in the Supreme Court the latest example; and now, Griswold’s leak of Dominion voting machines’ passwords comes on the heels of a nationwide “glitch” with the machines Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has described as “frustrating.”
Benson, who is rumored to be eyeing a run for governor, refused to purge Michigan voter rolls — though Michigan has more than 500,000 more registered voters than citizens.
Why don't people trust the voting process, one that takes days or weeks to fully count and that has things like this "unexpectedly" happening with Dominion machines 5 days before Election Day? https://t.co/dVfNCjfBZ0
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 30, 2024
Could Americans be forgiven for wondering why glitches and irregularities, to say nothing of grievous password leaks and security threats, plague Democrat-run cities and states?
The battle for secure elections is not without victories. The RNC investigated nearly 170,000 duplicate ballots in Michigan and has successfully confirmed the duplicates will not be counted.
Trump maintains a lead in polling, potentially taking the popular vote in addition to most swing states. He leads Harris nationally by a half a point to as many as two points.
Still, commentators are saying the only chance for election results to deliver on the will of the people is to make a Trump victory “too big to rig.”
The political betting site Polymarket has President Trump as a 2 to 1 favorite over Kamala Harris.
Don’t believe any of the hype. Trump needs every single vote he can get.
Democrats are cheating and will do everything they can to win.
Trump’s win must be too big to rig.
VOTE! pic.twitter.com/MTlXP0Ggy4
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) October 30, 2024
