As calls for Jena Griswold’s resignation pile up for the online leak of Colorado’s voting machine passwords and her failure to take immediate action, the hits just keep on coming for the embattled secretary of state.
Denver District Court Judge Kandace C. Gerdes will hold a hearing at 1:30 p.m. today (Monday) on a petition filed by the state Libertarian Party to remove her from office, decommission the affected voting equipment and order a hand count of ballots on Tuesday.
Gerdes was first appointed to the bench by then Gov. Hickenlooper back in 2013, another reminder that elections matter. She was retained by voters in 2022.
The lawsuit cites a state law that Griswold lobbied for that would revoke her access to the state’s voting system for causing the passwords to be published, and is punishable by up to three years in jail.
But don’t get too excited, PeakNation. It’s unlikely that any action would be taken in this first hearing, if at all.
For those who missed the news of Griswold’s latest and greatest blunder, Courthouse News Service has the recap:
Dating back to the state primary election in June, the secretary of state’s office’s website published a spreadsheet named “Voting Systems Inventory,” which contained 600 partial passwords on a hidden tab for elections systems in all but one of the state’s counties.
The passwords provide access to the state’s election management system, ballot scanners and its adjudication system.
Griswold’s insistence the election system was protected all along by a layered security approach requiring assistance from someone inside a county clerk’s office to gain access with a second password isn’t reassuring — (cough) Tina Peters (cough).
The passwords were online for four months, plus Griswold also admits she waited nearly a week before alerting clerks to the security compromise just days before the election.
Griswold has refused to accept responsibility, preferring instead to blame an unnamed state worker.
And neither has she informed the public on hers or the secretary of state’s social media pages, preferring instead to grandstand and continue bashing Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.
The bitter irony is that Trump and MAGA Republicans continue to say they care about families and life, but I can tell you as a new mom and election official, they don’t support either.https://t.co/OijOxV6DG2
— Jena Griswold (@JenaGriswold) October 14, 2024
Fellow Democrat Gov. Polis called for an investigation into how the Hell this happened, but he also stood by Griswold to insist the state’s system was secured after all passwords were finally changed — on Oct. 31.
Among many Republicans calling for Griswold’s resignation is El Paso Clerk and Recorder Steve Schleiker, noting her leadership has been repeatedly marked by several high-profile security breaches “that have compromised public trust in our electoral process.”
Former state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams also called for her to step down Monday as she now pursues a campaign for governor.
“ … Griswold has made media exposure her first, foremost and only pursuit for the past six years. And it has finally caught up with her as her incompetence has roiled Colorado’s election process,” Wadhams wrote in Colorado Politics.
Wadhams continued:
It does not strain the imagination to believe there is far more to this scandal than just some nameless employee who went rogue but it will take more than Griswold’s “internal investigation” to learn more. The Denver district attorney, the Colorado attorney general and even the FBI should be involved just like when the convicted and imprisoned Tina Peters was caught illegally tampering with election equipment in Mesa County.
Fortunately, 64 outstanding county clerks around the state ultimately conduct Colorado’s elections and they will ensure they will be done right.
Karma is indeed a cruel mistress.
Stay tuned!