Denver, Colorado – A recent court case involving the security of Colorado’s electoral process has stirred a heated debate just days before an election. At issue in Denver District Court on Monday was a lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party of Colorado against Secretary of State Jena Griswold. This legal action was prompted after a revelation that partial passwords to the state’s voting systems were inadvertently disclosed on a publicly accessible spreadsheet.
Last week, the issue came into the spotlight when Griswold admitted that an employee had erroneously included partial passwords in a downloadable spreadsheet from her office’s website. The breach became public knowledge after the Colorado Republican Party highlighted it last Wednesday, almost a week after the secretary of state’s office was notified.
The lawsuit by the Libertarian Party sought several measures including the recusal of Griswold from overseeing Tuesday’s election, the decommissioning of affected voting systems, hand-counting of ballots in implicated counties, and an overturn of a temporary rule allowing for password changes. They also called for an investigation by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
Arguments in the court stretched from 1:30 p.m. to nearly 6 p.m. on Monday, emphasizing the urgency and complexity of the situation the day before an election. Throughout the hearing, it was disclosed that 46 counties were using voting machines that had part of their passwords exposed on a hidden spreadsheet tab. Of these, 34 counties were still using machines with active leaked passwords, while 12 had updated their passwords.
The defense for Griswold argued that the measures requested by the Libertarian Party were baseless both factually and legally, and granting such relief would disrupt the electoral process with less than a day to go before polls opened. In stark contrast, lawyers representing the Libertarian Party insisted on excluding the compromised devices from the election process and pushed for ballots to be counted manually.
Closing arguments saw Griswold’s legal team asking the court to reject the controversial relief sought by the plaintiffs. Meanwhile, representatives for the Libertarian Party continued to advocate for non-use of the affected machines and for ballots to be hand counted.
Concluding the long session, the judge announced that a written order would be issued in due course, reflecting the need for a deliberate and thoughtful decision in light of the significant electoral implications.
This lawsuit highlights the ongoing challenges and controversies surrounding electoral system security and integrity, underscoring the critical nature of safeguarding voting infrastructure against errors and vulnerabilities.
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