The Denver District Attorney's Office has opened an investigation into the Colorado Department of State after it was discovered in late October a civil servant from their office posted partial passwords to voting systems.
The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced Friday it is also joining the investigation, after revealing it received affidavits on November 4, alleging violations by the Department of State.
According to a release from the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office, two signed affidavits were received stating the Colorado Department of State has allegedly violated election laws in Colorado, under statute CRS 1-13-708.
(1)Any person who, as determined by rules promulgated by the secretary of state in accordance with article 4 of title 24, accesses without authorization, tampers with, or facilitates the unauthorized access to or tampering with any electronic or electromechanical voting equipment or an election-night reporting system before, during, or after any election provided by law is guilty of a class 5 felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 18-1.3-401.
(2)Any person who knowingly publishes or causes to be published passwords or other confidential information relating to a voting system shall immediately have their authorized access revoked and is guilty of a class 5 felony.
"The violations alleged in the affidavits are related to the Secretary of State publishing on their website certain BIOS passwords for election machines maintained by Clerk and Recorders in several counties throughout Colorado, including here in El Paso County," the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office said in the release.
The 4th Judicial DA is reviewing the situation and will determine if further investigation is necessary once the Denver DA completes its investigation.
The Colorado Department of State said they are fully cooperating and are allowing the investigation to speak to any employee in the office.
The Colorado Department of State provided the following statement in response to the investigations:
The Department of State is supporting and working closely with the Denver District Attorney’s investigation into the staff’s posting of a file that included voting system component passwords. We welcome the additional transparency that this investigation will provide to the public. Please direct any further questions about the investigation by the Denver District Attorney to their office.
BACKGROUND:
In a press release on Tuesday, October 29, the Colorado Department of State confirmed an Excel spreadsheet containing hundreds of paratial passwords to Colorado's voting systems was published on the SOS’s website for months before the office was notified.
The SOS's Office and the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office stated that the BIOS passwords could only be used through in-person contact with the voting equipment, which is kept under 24/7 surveillance.
SOS Jena Griswold confirmed that a civil servant was responsible for the error, and had left the office months prior.
Griswold has stated that she will not be retiring, and will continue to add "layers of security" to election systems.
The former employee allegedly responsible had left on good terms and no longer resides in Colorado.
The Department of State said adding the tab of hidden passwords is against department policy and a second employee posted the spreadsheet without knowledge of the hidden tab. The spreadsheet was posted as required by law, officials in the department said.
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