By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice
A report detailing the findings of an investigation into the activities of the Colorado secretary of state’s office during the public exposure of BIOS passwords, in the days leading up to the 2024 election, was released Monday.
It drew mixed reactions from clerks on both sides of the Continental Divide.
“I’m glad that they did an independent investigation,” said Mesa County Clerk Bobbie Gross. “The secretary of state should be accountable and responsible for her actions.”
Similarly, El Paso County Clerk Steve Schleiker praised the action.
“The investigation demonstrated a commitment to accountability by addressing the serious error and trying to ensure public trust in the election processes,” he said.
The compliments also include criticism.
“But there are still a lot of unanswered questions,” Gross said.
Schleiker expressed frustration over what he described as critical gaps in the state’s handling of the BIOS password exposure. He pointed to the timeline as a glaring concern.
“We all know now that the passwords were online for months before detection,” he said. “That raises questions about why the issue wasn’t identified internally earlier.”
Schleiker criticized the handling of the spreadsheet that caused the breach, calling it an avoidable error.
“Excel 101 — you don’t put a workable spreadsheet out on a public website. You either lock it or convert it to a PDF,” he said, adding that such missteps should never happen at a state-level office. “It’s not just a mistake – it’s a violation of the basic protocols we’re all required to follow in government.”
For Schleiker, the biggest frustration was the lack of timely communication with county clerks, a factor other county clerks have noted in discussions with the Rocky Mountain Voice.
“The delay in sharing this information with the clerks was inexcusable,” he said. “We took a beating leading up to the election, because we didn’t have the answers or context to address voter concerns.”
The public, including clerks, originally found out about the BIOS password exposure after the Colorado GOP released the information at the end of October.
Reflecting on a series of phone calls between the Secretary of State’s office and county clerks that were later published on the Colorado GOP’s YouTube channel, Gross confirmed she was part of the discussions.
“I was on that call,” she said. “And [disgruntled clerks] didn’t say anything that the rest of us weren’t already feeling.”
Schleiker criticized the lack of support from the secretary of state’s office in helping clerks address voter concerns: “There was really no help from the secretary of state’s office for the 64 county clerks to deal with that.”
Gross shared an example of the confusion caused by the state’s inconsistent communication.
“At one point, they said on a call that all the counties affected had been notified. That’s what they told us. But we weren’t notified,” she explained. “A reporter emailed me at 9 a.m. and asked if we were compromised. I told him, ‘Nope, we’re good.’ And then at 2 p.m., I found out we were compromised. That was disappointing.”
Gross expressed frustration with the lack of detail in the independent investigative report on the BIOS password exposure.
“I would like to see how many people looked at that spreadsheet and how many people had access to it,” she said.
Gross also criticized Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s approach to transparency: “The secretary of state does not hold herself to the same standards of transparency that she expects from all 64 counties.”
The double standards are also a concern for Schleiker.
“If this had happened here in El Paso County, she would have taken over my office,” he said, adding, “I would have been relieved of my designated duties as an election officer and replaced by someone from her office staff or another individual.”
Schleiker has a grounded perspective on election management, rejecting the often-repeated phrase that Colorado’s elections are the ‘gold standard.’
“You will never hear Steve Schleiker say that,” he stated emphatically. “When you’re saying you’re the gold standard, you are basically sharing that you’re perfect. And perfection is elusive — nothing is ever perfect.”
He instead indicates his perspective that elections are a process of continuous improvement: “You learn something new from each and every election.”
Schleiker confirmed that his county was one of those impacted by the BIOS password exposure, with eight machines affected.
“In our first meeting, we didn’t even hear from the secretary of state, herself. It was the deputy secretary who addressed us, and it took nearly a week for her to meet with clerks over Zoom after the issue went public,” Schleiker recalled.
He described the eventual meeting as “extremely awkward,” noting that while some clerks expressed solidarity with the secretary, he took a different approach. “It was a Kumbaya moment for some, but I wasn’t giving her a pass. I told her, ‘you’ve really put us in a bad situation where we have no talking points and no information to share with local media.’ ”
Schleiker emphasized how this lack of communication hurt both clerks and public trust.
“The media here in Colorado Springs wanted answers. Residents wanted answers. And I knew as much as they did at the time,” he said. “This situation highlighted that the secretary of state doesn’t have her finger on the pulse. The citizens of this state deserve better — a secretary of state who isn’t using this office as a stepping stone, but treats it as the technical position it is.”
To address residents’ concerns about election integrity since taking office, Schleiker has taken significant steps to improve transparency and voter confidence in El Paso County.
Schleiker detailed his efforts to clean up voter rolls, which resulted in significant improvements.
“When I took office, I hired a company to match voter addresses against credit reports. We found 50,000 outdated records in our voter rolls, many from people who no longer lived here,” he said.
Through targeted outreach and updates, the county reduced undeliverable ballots from 38,000 in 2023 to fewer than 9,000 in 2024.
“This kind of work should be the secretary of state’s responsibility, not the clerk’s, but I did it because the voters elected me to make improvements,” Schleiker said.
After Schleiker’s efforts were reported in the media, the state of Indiana reached out to learn more.
“I worked with several of their clerks on how to read the data and such, and in a legislative session they made it a state law [making it easier for state and local election officials to remove people from voter rolls],” he said.
The investigative report and criticism by clerks point to a dire need for improved election management at the state level, some clerks say. They hope the successes at the county level will motivate Secretary Griswold to engage more with Colorado clerks to serve Colorado voters better.
Read the full investigative report, including recommendations, HERE.