Colorado Password Scandal Exposes Hypocrisy by Secretary of State Jenna Griswold
Guest post by Joe Hoft at JoeHoft.com – republished with permission
Guest post by Jack Gleason
Passwords are important things, especially “BIOS” passwords that give unfettered access to voting machines at the most basic level, allowing massive changes with no trail. The Colorado voting machine passwords were posted online for as long as five months.
In highly-contested Colorado, 664 BIOS passwords were listed in a hidden tab on a series of spreadsheets posted on a page for the Colorado Secretary of State’s website as early as June of this year.
Colorado SOS, Jena Griswold, has embarked on a full press media crusade to minimize the impact of the breach, slanting and mischaracterizing the facts. Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams rebutted each of her points…
She claimed the passwords were only one half of a two-part security system to allow access.
Williams said, “These passwords, posted on the internet since at least June, were COMPLETE passwords for hundreds of pieces of equipment… It only takes ONE password to get into the system. According to cyber experts and white hat hackers, access to the BIOS passwords makes all other passwords irrelevant.”
She claimed that the machines can’t be accessed remotely. Williams’ response… “Remote Access is a legitimate threat. True computer experts will verify the systems can be accessed from anywhere in the world, given the right circumstances.”
She claimed that there is no evidence that any systems were compromised. Williams… “Cyber experts who have tested election systems and high-level government systems… advise an average hacker could compromise the machine and leave no trace they had been in the machine.”
Griswold said all that is needed to fix the problem is a password change. Williams’ response… “Cyber experts warn these systems must be quarantined, then undergo a total forensic investigation… There is no fixing this equipment – it should be scrapped.”
Williams has stated “President Trump is well aware of the issues with our elections systems and procedures. We can expect Election Security will be among the first things he addresses when he is sworn in again on Jan 20th, 2025. Before that happens, Colorado voters deserve a full investigation of the security violations and password compromises due to Secretary Griswold’s negligence.”
Although Chairman Williams didn’t come out and accuse Griswold of criminal activity, this data breach can’t just be an oversight or accident. Spreadsheets don’t load themselves onto websites. These passwords could have easily been used by anyone who knew of the data to hack into the machines and set up any number of methods to change the election systems and results, with no chance of detection.
Tina Peters, an election clerk for Mesa County, Colorado, was recently sentenced to nine years in prison for making a copy of her machine’s 2020 election data before complying with an improper and illegal demand by Jena Griswold to erase all election data on her system.
For raising questions about election irregularities, she was found guilty on 7 of 10 charges.
After her sentencing, Peters released more data to the public for review with reports at tinapeters.us.
Yet Griswold’s cover up of the BIOS data breach is considered a minor problem. Here is a recording of her discussions with Colorado election officials announcing the breach and getting some serious pushback from her own employees.
Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams may soon be calling for whomever becomes U.S. Attorney General in the new Trump administration, to launch a full investigation into the way elections have been conducted in Colorado. He says “Recent security failures under Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, including a critical password leak, reveal a troubling level of incompetence that threatens Colorado’s election integrity. Safeguarding our systems is essential and Griswold’s inability to prevent these lapses undermines public trust. Colorado deserves leaders who prioritize security and accountability, and it’s time for Griswold to address these failures with transparency and effective solutions.”
Williams was interviewed on the Grant Stinchfield Show on November 14th.
Tina Peter’s conviction is now under appeal.
A few more thoughts…
Basically a computer is nothing more than a calculator, but changing its BIOS means you can make undetectable changes. What if two plus two equals four for Republican candidates, but two plus two equals twenty-two for Democrats?
When an election system is compromised to this extent, all results are suspect and a completely new election should be conducted. This is of nationwide concern. Colorado is not only electing state and local candidates, but their federal elections could affect the makeup of the House and Senate.
It is thought that Jane Griswold will be running for governor of Colorado. Wouldn’t it be interesting if her opponent was Tina Peters, campaigning from prison in her orange jumpsuit? You’d have the brave whistleblower against the self-serving politician.
Einstein said the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. A corollary in politics could be “conducting different elections but getting the same results.” Why is it that most close elections seem to favor Democrats and RINOs?
It’s interesting when recounts of paper ballots usually find 1-20 errors, but reviews of machine counts can find errors and mistakes in the thousands. It’s time to mandate paper ballots, with equal numbers from each party monitoring the counting, and election officials ensuring that all voters are American citizens living at confirmed addresses. Our votes used to be counted on election eve with great accuracy. There should be no more counting days or weeks after the voting stops.
Any single deviation from these rules – compromised voting machine security, lost chain of custody of ballots, improper counting oversight, unverified signatures on absentee ballots, must invalidate the entire election immediately. New elections should be conducted with oversight by court-appointed special masters.
Our vote is the fundamental right of all Americans and the foundation upon which our Constitutional Republic stands. It must be protected at all costs.
Jack Gleason is a conservative, common-sense political writer. He can be reached at jackgleason9@protonmail.com
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