Now that the election is over, state officials need to get back on track with demands for an outside investigation into Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s password leak.

A Denver district court judge ruled last week that Griswold’s office had “acted swiftly to remedy the issue by removing and changing the leaked passwords,” Colorado Public Radio reports.

And yet, waiting nearly a week to tell country clerks statewide the Republican Party had alerted them to the security breach does not in our book signify swift action.

But there’s the bigger issue of how the hundreds of passwords ended up online and stayed there for four months without anyone in the office noticing.

And voters want to know if Griswold’s handling of the password leak created an even bigger snafu.

Griswold told us the employee responsible no longer worked in her office. Yet we learned in court the staffer had quit before the spreadsheet containing the passwords was posted online back in June.

Not reassuring.

“It is our understanding that there is no evidence that the staff that posted the spreadsheet was aware of the hidden tab,” said Griswold.

But what about the employee who created the spreadsheet but later quit?

There are many questions about procedure in that office that led to this security breach and further erosion in the public’s trust of Griswold to ensure elections are overseen in a fair and impartial manner.

Yet despite calls from Gov. Polis and Republican leaders in the state legislature for an outside investigation by the state, Griswold is already spending taxpayer dollars to hir a Denver law firm to conduct her own “outside investigation.”

We expect those findings will serve as damage control to protect her political career and aspirations to move into the governor’s mansion.

Meanwhile, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann’s office has also opened a probe into Griswold’s gaffe for some unknown reason. We would be shocked if that inquiry uncovered so much as a missing paper clip.

Whether that’s the end of this mess totally depends on pressure from the public and the media.

If Thursday’s headline in Westword is any indication, some reporters aren’t willing to let it go:

“Jena Griswold’s Greatest Gaffes: A Reign of Error at the Secretary of State’s Office”

A sure sign that a Democrat is in trouble is when Westword recounts every single screwup in embarrassing detail to its left of center readership.

And this article is a work of art.

Behold:

The most consistent complaint levied against Griswold is that she has aggressively politicized a position historically expected to be treated as non-partisan.

Bingo.

The result is a lack of confidence by her core constituents — Colorado voters — who shared their concerns with pollsters in January.

Almost half of all Republicans, 54%, did not think elections are being run fairly, while 63% of independent voters and 22% of Democrats agreed with them.

Hell, Griswold has done such a rotten job, even the Denver Post endorsed the Republican candidate over Griswold when she ran for reelection.

It’s long past time for Griswold to be held accountable for the damage she’s done to the Secretary of State’s office and voter trust in the system.

An outside investigation outside of Griswold’s outside investigation and Democrat operatives needs to begin ASAP.