Colorado Libertarians Sue Secretary of State Jena Griswold for Sharing Voting Machine Passwords | Choose

The Colorado Libertarian Party sued Secretary of State Jena Griswold and her deputy in Denver on Friday, asking the court to decommission voting machines and order a hand count of ballots in counties affected by the recently discovered online disclosure of hundreds of voting machine passwords were affected.

Hannah Goodman, the minor party's state chair, and James Wiley, the Libertarian candidate in the 3rd Congressional District, argue in a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court that Griswold and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall breached their public duties with the leak and their responses to it.

The same day, Griswold and Gov. Jared Polis announced that all leaked passwords had been updated by Thursday evening and that state staff had reviewed the security of the affected voting machines.

The two officials, both Democrats, reiterated in a statement that the appearance of the voting machine passwords in a spreadsheet posted online “does not pose a security threat to Colorado elections” and will not affect how ballots cast in next week's election are counted become.

“Colorado has countless layers of security to ensure our elections are free and fair, and every eligible voter should know that their vote will be counted as cast,” Griswold said.

A State Department spokeswoman told Colorado Politics Friday afternoon that the department was aware of the lawsuit but could not comment on pending litigation.

The case was assigned to Denver District Court Judge Kandace C. Gerdes late Friday, with a hearing scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Wiley, who also serves as executive director of the state's Libertarian Party, said the party did not believe Griswold and her department acted quickly enough to address the security breach.

“The delay in response, particularly after the matter became public, raises significant concerns about the commitment to election security,” Wiley said in a statement.

“We are forced to take this legal route to ensure that such vulnerabilities are not only remedied but prevented in the future,” he added. “The trust of voters is at stake, and it is our duty to protect trust in our electoral systems.”

The Libertarians' lawsuit also asks the court to order that Griswold and Beall be barred from monitoring next week's election and that the Colorado attorney general's office investigate the password leak. Additionally, the lawsuit asks the court to overturn an emergency rule issued by Beall that authorized additional state employees to help update passwords.

Polis said Thursday that he would assign state staff with sufficient expertise and authority to assist Griswold's office in updating passwords and reviewing security protocols at county clerks' offices across the state. Polis and Griswold said Friday that 22 federal cybersecurity employees assisted eight State Department employees in the effort.

The leaked passwords alone are not enough to access or modify the state's voting equipment, Griswold said earlier this week after the Colorado Republican Party posted the spreadsheet's existence on the secretary of state's website.

The GOP issued a press release just days after Griswold's staff replaced the spreadsheet on Oct. 24 with a file that did not contain passwords.

Every voting machine used in Colorado counties requires two passwords — one belonging to the secretary of state's office and the other known only to staff in each county clerk's office — and is required by law to be kept in secure rooms under constant video surveillance will be kept, said a spokesman for Griswold.

Griswold said in an interview with 9News that an “official” who no longer works in the department was responsible for uploading a file that “illegally” included voting system passwords in a hidden spreadsheet in an inventory of voting equipment.

Griswold previously acknowledged that the spreadsheet had been posted online for months on the Colorado Secretary of State's Office website and that a hidden spreadsheet in the document could show passwords for some components of the state's election system.