DENVER (CN) — Twenty-three hours before polls close and a week after election equipment passwords were discovered online, the Libertarian Party of Colorado asked a Denver judge on Monday to oust the secretary of state and order a hand count of paper ballots in the 2024 election.
“The secretary of state’s office was so derelict to warrant removal,” said attorney Gary Fielder, on behalf of the Libertarian Party. “We’re not asking for chaos, we’re asking for a fair and accurate election.”
The party sued Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, on Friday demanding her removal from office following the recent discovery of partial voting systems passwords online.
In June, a state employee posted a spreadsheet titled “Voting Systems Inventory” on the state website which unbeknownst to everyone in the office contained 600 of the state’s basic input/output system passwords on a hidden tab.
The passwords are needed to access the state’s election management system, ballot scanners and its adjudication system, in tandem with county administrative passwords.
In exposing the passwords, the Libertarian Party and its chair Hannah Goodman argue Griswold breached her duty and put Colorado’s election at risk.
“I’m deeply concerned we’re not going to see accurate vote counts, whether its presidential or RTD,” testified Goodman, referring to the Regional Transportation District, which has board members on the ballot.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs cite the Internal Election Security Measures Act, which in 2022 outlawed exposing voting machine passwords in the wake of former Mesa County Clerk and Record Tina Peters’ 2021 data breach. The law criminalizes leaking voting machine passwords with up to three years in jail.
In closing, Fielder urged the judge to order a hand count of the ballots.
“I disagree with the assessment that hand counting is not a proper way of counting ballots, because it is what we did for many years,” Fielder said.
On behalf of the state, First Assistant Attorney General Leann Morrill argued that Griswold acted quickly to remove the passwords, open an investigation, and remain in compliance with the law.
In press releases, Griswold has downplayed the risks to the election since multiple passwords are needed to access the equipment, the leaked passwords were immediately changed, and voting sites remain under 24-7 surveillance.
“No one takes this more seriously than the secretary or deputy secretary,” Morrill said.
As with the 2021 Mesa County data breach, Morrill said, “the secretary’s office has again taken the same orderly, thoughtful, informed process for confronting this what the evidence shows was unknowingly done.”
Morrill argued there was no evidence that voting equipment had been accessed by unauthorized actors or that the breach would compromise the results of Tuesday’s election.
At the end of a four-hour hearing, Gerdes declined to indicate how she would decide the issues, but promised to issue a written order in due course.