Author: Brian Porter

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice In response to an inquiry made by the Colorado Republican Party, the office of secretary of state Jena Griswold claims only partial passwords to certain components of the Colorado voting systems were improperly made available in a public area of the website she manages. "This does not pose an immediate security threat to Colorado’s elections, nor will it impact how ballots are counted," a statement from her office reads. The statement received by the Rocky Mountain Voice did not include comment from Griswold in a long explanation of election security measures, which never addressed how the passwords were placed in a public area of the website and by whom. In fact, the statement failed to address much of the concern from Colorado Republican...

By BRIAN PORTER | Rocky Mountain Voice More than 600 BIOS passwords for voting system components in 63 of the state's 64 counties were publicly shared in a file on Secretary of State Jena Griswold's website, a news release email from the Colorado Republican Party reads. An unnamed state official "discretely removed" the passwords on Thursday, Oct. 24, the release states. "The passwords were not encrypted or otherwise protected – this means they were available for public consumption," the Colorado Republican Party's email reads. The file may have been posted publicly since August, with the amended file posted Oct. 24. BIOS passwords allow access for "knowledgeable users to fundamentally manipulate systems and data" and to remove trace evidence of doing so, the Colorado Republ...