President Donald Trump’s marketing campaign issued a proper demand on Wednesday, calling on Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) to quickly stop processing mail-in ballots after her workplace reportedly leaked essential BIOS passwords on-line.
The Gateway Pundit beforehand reported that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s web site had revealed roughly 600 BIOS passwords for the election tools in 63 out of 64 counties in Colorado.
The unlawful publicity of the passwords was first caught in August of this 12 months however believed to have been revealed as early as June, earlier than the state’s main election. They usually weren’t eliminated till late October.
Griswold’s passwords had been neither incomplete nor had been all of them outdated. Nevertheless, Griswold tried to name the BIOS passwords “partial” as a result of they had been 1 of two passwords utilized by the system: one for the BIOS and one for the working system.
The Trump marketing campaign’s letter outlined pressing actions Griswold should take, together with figuring out impacted counties, notifying them of the breach, halting poll processing, and implementing new Trusted Builds together with Logic and Accuracy Exams.
The marketing campaign argued {that a} momentary halt is important to “assure that the election tools in these counties is safe” and restore public belief within the integrity of Colorado’s voting techniques.
Learn the letter under:
“Expensive Secretary Griswold,
This agency represents Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc. Yesterday, it was revealed that your workplace publicly disclosed BIOS passwords for voting system tools for 63 of Colorado’s 64 counties starting in no less than August, 2024 and persevering with via Thursday, October 24, 2024. We’re significantly involved as a result of your workplace knew of this safety breach no less than as early as October 24, but hid the issue by failing to inform anybody.
As you already know, anybody in possession of present BIOS passwords and with entry to the affected election techniques would have the flexibility to change the Trusted Construct of these techniques with out leaving indicators of tampering within the software program. Therefore, this disclosure by your workplace—which we assume was inadvertent on condition that figuring out publication of this info constitutes a Class 5 felony below SB 22-153-makes it important that you simply act instantly to guard the integrity of Colorado’s basic election.
With six days remaining earlier than Election Day, there’s a path ahead. Beneath Colorado legislation and present election laws, you need to instantly do the next:
(1) Identification these counties for whom the BIOS passwords listed within the spreadsheet disclosed by your workplace had been present as of their most up-to-date Trusted Construct.
(2) Instantly notify the affected counties and order a brand new Trusted Construct is required as a result of “one other safety difficulty” below Election Rule 20.6.1. Your workplace ought to full the required Trusted Builds expeditiously. As soon as the Trusted Construct is in place within the affected counties, these counties ought to be directed to right away conduct a brand new Logic and Accuracy Check for his or her election tools.
(3) For these counties for whom a brand new Trusted Construct is required, direct them to right away halt the processing of mail ballots acquired and to organize to re-scan all mail ballots already scanned after the brand new Trusted Construct and Logic and Accuracy Exams are accomplished. As you already know, that is potential, as a result of though most counties have already begun to course of and scan returned ballots, no county is permitted to reveal outcomes till 7:00pm on Election Day. C.R.S. § 1-7.5-107.5.
We acknowledge these steps could also be an inconvenience on your workplace and for the affected counties. However this inconvenience is important as a result of it’s the solely strategy to assure that the elections tools in these counties whose present BIOS passwords had been disclosed by your workplace are safe and that the chain-of-custody for that tools required by Colorado legislation and laws is unbroken.
Please verify you’ll undertake these steps no later than 10:00am MT tomorrow, October 31, 2024”
NEW: Trump marketing campaign calls for Colorado Secretary of State @JenaGriswold (D) quickly halt processing of mail ballots and re-secure voting techniques in counties impacted by her workplace’s leak of voting system passwords on-line. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/OXon4eQCCj
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 31, 2024
In response, Colorado’s Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall downplayed the severity of the leak. In his assertion, he insisted that “background-checked state cybersecurity specialists” would assist safe the techniques, asserting there was “no fast menace” to Colorado’s election integrity.
He promised further safety measures with out specifying what they’d entail.
“The Division decided that as a result of Colorado’s voting techniques are protected by layers of safety and redundancies, no single error can compromise the integrity of the system. These measures are enshrined in statute and the Division’s election guidelines, together with a number of layers of password safety, tightly managed bodily entry to voting tools, 24-hour each day video surveillance, amongst different measures. To reiterate, the safety of our voting techniques just isn’t endangered,” Beall’s letter said, in line with Denver 7.
On Friday, Governor Polis and Secretary Griswold launched a joint assertion confirming that every one passwords on Colorado voting machines have been up to date and that the safety of the machines has been totally verified.
Learn the assertion under:
In the present day, Governor Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold introduced that the trouble to replace all passwords and confirm the safety of affected energetic voting techniques in Colorado is full. The joint effort concluded efficiently Thursday night.
“The entire passwords in affected counties have been modified. I wish to thank Governor Polis for deploying additional state sources to assist on this effort,” mentioned Secretary of State Jena Griswold. “Colorado has numerous layers of safety to make sure our elections are free and honest, and each eligible voter ought to know their poll will likely be counted as solid.”
“We recognize the swift work to replace these passwords. Each Coloradan can relaxation assured that their vote will likely be counted pretty and precisely. Whereas the leaked passwords compromised simply one in all many layers of safety that shield our election integrity in Colorado, we knew it was essential to take swift motion and to work with Secretary Griswold and the county clerks to replace the passwords instantly,” mentioned Governor Jared Polis. “I wish to particularly thank the hardworking state staff and county clerk personnel who had been a part of this effort.”
Inside hours of being briefed on Wednesday, October 30, Governor Polis deployed human capital, air and floor property, and different logistical help to the Secretary of State’s Workplace to finish modifications to all of the affected passwords and confirm that no settings had been modified in any piece of election tools.
Final night, the operation was accomplished rapidly to alter all impacted passwords. This included eight workers from the Division of State and an extra 22 state cybersecurity personnel who had been directed to help the operation by Governor Polis. All workers had acceptable background checks and underwent coaching pursuant to guidelines promulgated by the Secretary of State previous to starting work on election techniques. Moreover, state company workers labored in pairs and had been noticed by county elections officers.
This password disclosure didn’t pose a safety menace to Colorado’s elections, nor will it affect how ballots are counted. Adjustments to passwords had been made out of an abundance of warning.
Colorado elections embody many layers of safety. The passwords that had been improperly disclosed had been one in all two passwords wanted together to make modifications to a voting system and might solely be used with in-person bodily entry. Beneath Colorado legislation, voting tools should be saved in safe rooms that require a safe ID badge to entry. That ID badge creates an entry log that tracks who enters a safe space and when. There may be 24/7 video digital camera recording on all election tools. Clerks are required to take care of restricted entry to safe poll areas and should solely share entry info with background-checked people. No individual could also be current in a safe space except they’re licensed to take action or are supervised by a certified and background-checked worker. There are additionally strict chain of custody necessities that monitor when a voting techniques element has been accessed and by whom. It’s a felony to entry voting tools with out authorization.
Each Colorado voter votes on a paper poll, which is then audited through the Threat Limiting Audit to make sure ballots had been counted in line with voter intent.
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