Official announcements from Colorado Secretary of State's Office

Colorado's Jena Griswold Posts Partial BIOS Passwords for Voting Machines in 63 Counties

Oct 30, 2024, 02:00 AM

The Colorado Secretary of State's Office, led by Democrat Jena Griswold, inadvertently posted partial BIOS passwords for its voting systems on its public-facing website. The passwords, covering machines in 63 of the state's 64 counties, were included in a hidden tab of a spreadsheet that could be accessed by right-clicking and selecting "unhide." The office stated that the partial passwords can only be used with physical, in-person access to the voting systems and that the exposure does not pose an immediate threat to the upcoming November 5 general election. The passwords were reportedly available online for months before being removed. The incident has drawn criticism from Colorado's Republican Party, which noted that in 2021, Griswold had called a similar leak by Republican clerk Tina Peters "a serious breach of voting system security protocols." Peters faced legal consequences for sharing passwords illegally. The office has emphasized that election security remains intact.