DENVER – Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold say passwords have been updated on all voting machines affected by a partial password breach and that the voting machines are secure.

“I was very relieved that (Griswold) asked and was willing to receive our help in changing those passwords,” Polis said. “We were able to use state aircraft to reach remote areas of our state. As I understand it, all passwords were updated shortly after midnight last night.”

Griswold said an employee mistakenly included partial passwords for voting systems in a spreadsheet that anyone could download from his office website.

“A department official made a serious mistake and we have taken active steps to remedy it,” Griswold said. “Humans make mistakes.”

Griswold said the employee is no longer with his department, but did not say whether that person had been fired or resigned before the incident became public.

The public first learned of the leak after the Colorado Republican Party issued a statement about it on Wednesday, nearly a week after Griswold said his office was informed about it on Thursday, October 24.

Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams said a “whistleblower” informed the party about the partial password leak.

Griswold declined to tell Denver7 who informed his office.

“Given the nature of this investigation at this time, I cannot go into those details,” Griswold said.

It’s unclear why the secretary of state’s office didn’t immediately notify the public or why they waited the same amount of time to issue an emergency rule allowing passwords to be updated.

Griswold said the partial leak never posed an immediate threat to Colorado elections.

“Colorado elections have layers of security, so you actually need two passwords and physical access to voting equipment to use them, to use the passwords for them to be worth anything,” Griswold said. “The two sets of passwords are held by different parties in different locations. And of course, under Colorado law, voting equipment is stored in secure rooms that require ID cards that are secure ID cards. We have 24/7 video monitoring on voting equipment, a strict chain of custody for accessing voting equipment, and of course it is a felony to access and compromise voting equipment in the state of Colorado.”

But Republicans in the Capitol say Griswold’s assurances are not enough and demand that he resign.

“Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s reckless disregard for professional standards and her continued lack of transparency have threatened trust in our democratic system by raising doubts about the security of our electoral process. “His office has sent postcards to 30,000 noncitizens illegally encouraging them to register to vote, falsely informed other voters that they had not voted when they had already done so, and has now revealed election system passwords on the Internet,” the state representative said. of the House of Representatives, Rose. Pugliese. “While I have the utmost confidence in the integrity of our county clerks, who actually oversee the vote count, I do not trust Secretary Griswold to be capable of leading our election system. Enough of your incompetence; It’s time for her to resign. “The people of Colorado deserve better.”

Griswold told Denver7 that she was not resigning as the state’s top elections official.

“No, I’m not quitting,” Griswold said.

Denver7 asked Griswold who was ultimately responsible for the leak.

“I take responsibility for anything that goes wrong in the office,” Griswold said. “At the end of the day, this was a public official hiding tabs in a spreadsheet.”

On Friday, the Libertarian Party of Colorado filed a lawsuit against Griswold in Denver District Court.

“By allowing these passwords to be available to the public, the Secretary has breached her duty to ensure that Colorado’s upcoming general election is fair and accurate,” her attorney, Gary Fielder, said in the lawsuit.

They are also asking the court to order Griswold to recuse himself from participating in Tuesday’s election, to immediately dismantle any voting system devices associated with the posted passwords, to order that ballots in affected counties be counted manually, and to revoke a temporary rule that allowed passwords to be changed.

“Based on information and belief, any modification, including updating the passwords of the machines and voting systems in question, described herein, creates a circumstance in which the previous certifications of the voting systems involved are void,” it states. reads in the lawsuit.

They also want Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to conduct an investigation.

“While the attorney general’s office cannot confirm or comment on the investigations, in Colorado we are proud that our election system is the gold standard in the nation,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement. “Any illegal action that damages public confidence in our elections must be taken seriously. With respect to the disclosure of election system passwords, it is critical that this matter be thoroughly reviewed and that all necessary steps be taken to ensure that our elections are secure and that every vote is counted.”

The partial password breach has catapulted Colorado once again into the national political spotlight.

On Thursday, former President Donald Trump’s campaign announced that it had sent a letter to Griswold, demanding that he “identify the counties affected by the security breach, notify them, direct them to stop processing mail-in ballots, and prepare to return.” to scan all the ballots.” ballots.”

Colorado Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Bell responded to the Trump campaign by saying that “state cybersecurity experts with background checks” would help update passwords.

Republicans at the state Capitol are calling on the Legislative Audit Committee to hold an emergency hearing on the partial password leak.

The committee’s chair, state Rep. Lisa Frizell, said a 2021 rule change prevented her from being able to unilaterally call an emergency meeting.

Frizell said one could be called if five members of the eight-person committee, which includes four Republicans and four Democrats, agreed. As of Friday afternoon, it was unclear whether there was enough support for such a meeting.

The next regular meeting of the committee is scheduled for December 9.