By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice
Denver District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes has denied an appeal to seek a hand-count of election returns and other relief sought by the Libertarian Party in a suit against Secretary of State Jena Griswold and the State of Colorado.
Counsel for the Libertarian Party had argued the public disclosure of passwords on the secretary of state’s website for a period lasting four months before removal was unprecedented, and so an unprecedented resolution was needed.
The case was filed Friday, Nov. 1, and heard in Gerdes’ courtroom Monday afternoon.
‘Unprecedented’ mistake by Secretary Griswold calls for unprecedented ruling, Libertarian Party argues in District Court
“In dismissing the petition, the district court judge recognized the secretary of state has a system of multilayered security measures to secure Colorado elections, including 24/7 video surveillance, key card access to voting equipment with access logs, and tamper-resistant seals on equipment and drop boxes,” a press release from the secretary of state reads.
The secretary of state acted to correct the disclosure before the filing of the case and took the proper course of action related to election law, the secretary of state’s statement reads.
“Colorado’s elections are safe due to the multilayered security measures we have in place,” Griswold said. “I am glad that the Denver district court has recognized the actions we took to address the password disclosure. On this Election Day, I encourage Coloradans to make their voices heard.”
No one during the Monday hearing testified to a compromised voting system specific to the password leak.
“I have no information that any unauthorized person has accessed any voting machine, and I also have no information no unauthorized person has accessed any voting machine,” said Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall under direct examination by Gary Fielder, the attorney for the Libertarian Party in the matter.
The plaintiff Libertarian Party sought a full and fair investigation into the leak by the attorney general, that all voting systems associated with the leak be immediately decommissioned, that all affected counties hand-count ballots, asking for a ban on any new rules or regulations by the secretary of state’s office until the issue reaches a resolution, and seeking court and attorney fees to be paid by the state in addition to any other relief.
Because the plaintiff Libertarian Party’s relief to the court has been denied, the vote counting will proceed as per state law and regulations described on the secretary of state’s website, absent an appeal.
Many members of the court learned for the first time Monday that Shawn Smith was the person who had discovered the public posting of passwords, and who, through John Case, alerted Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams. The secretary of state’s office claims to have realized the issue on Oct. 23, 2024, but it was Williams who alerted the public a week later through an email to Republicans and dissemination in the media.
“They looked like complete passwords for the voting systems,” Smith said.
He indicated, as an expert witness, that a compromised BIOS system could allow access to the computer, although he also testified that he was not aware of a compromised system.
The public posting of passwords is “unprecedented”, Fielder said in his opening, adding that the passwords were not just “up a day or so.” He said, on behalf of his client, they remained up for four months.
“All candidates, and I would suggest the public, would be interested in a fair count,” Fieldler said. “The secretary of state had this knowledge on Oct. 24.”
LeeAnn Morrill, the first assistant attorney to the Colorado attorney general, had described a potential finding by the court for the plaintiffs as “chaos”, likely pointing to a statewide hand-count of likely more than 2.5 million ballots.
The two named plaintiffs — Hannah Goodman, chairwoman of the Colorado Libertarian Party, and James Wiley, executive director of the Colorado Libertarian Party — are also candidates. Goodman noted the party is running 25 candidates for various offices in Colorado.
“My candidates are known as spoilers,” she said. “I’m deeply concerned we will not see accurate voting totals. It is a huge concern for anyone on the ballot at this time.”
The state defends the passwords were only part of what is necessary to access the system. There is a BIOS password, they say, and then local passwords maintained by a county clerk. The secretary of state’s office does not dispute it could be upwards of 600 passwords, Beall said.
“It is fair to say it shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “It is fair to say I wish it wouldn’t have happened. It is not fair to say it is a security breech.”