DENVER — A Denver District Court judge ruled Tuesday that 34 of Colorado’s 64 counties do not need to count election ballots by hand following the leak of voting machine passwords.
The Libertarian Party of Colorado sued the Colorado Secretary of State's Office, asking a court to “decommission” the voting machines that had passwords visible online and order a hand count in those counties.
On Oct. 24, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) confirmed to 9NEWS that voting machine passwords were visible on a spreadsheet online under a hidden tab.
Earlier that day, the Colorado Republican Party sent out a mass email with a redacted signed affidavit from someone saying they had downloaded a spreadsheet from the Secretary of State’s Office and discovered voting machine passwords on a hidden tab.
Denver District County Judge Kandace Gerdes issued her ruling Tuesday afternoon. She said she found that petitioners failed to show the passwords were shared "knowingly." She also noted that upon learning the passwords were posted, Griswold and her office put a "remediation protocol" in place. She went on to say as part of her denial, that all the affected equipment was examined and it was "verified" that it was not compromised. She also noted that no evidence was presented to show that the systems were compromised or altered after the BIOS password disclosure.
During the court hearing on Monday, Shawn Smith revealed himself on the witness stand as the person who signed that affidavit and found the passwords on the public spreadsheet.
"On the 24th, I noticed hidden worksheets at the bottom of the page," Smith said on the stand. "You can right-click on the active, visible worksheet, which is inventory, and you can select ‘unhide’ and it will pop up with a list of hidden worksheets. There's a column on the clean formulas worksheet that said BIOS passwords."
Smith also testified that Tina Peters’ attorney John Case reached out to him about the password spreadsheet.
Peters was just sentenced to nine years behind bars after being convicted of several felony charges in an election computer breach case.
In the hallway, Case refused to tell 9NEWS political reporter Marshall Zelinger how he knew that Smith had access to a spreadsheet with voting machine passwords.
“I can’t answer that,” Case said.
In 2022, Smith, a self-proclaimed election denier, called for Griswold to be hanged for election fraud.
FEC United, a conservative group in Colorado with a militia wing, called an emergency town hall in Feb. 2022 with Peters, then Mesa County’s Republican County Clerk.
At that event, Smith suggested the hanging of Griswold.
"You know, if you're involved in election fraud, then you deserve to hang," Smith said in 2022.
He did not provide any proof of election fraud.
"Sometimes, the old ways are the best ways," Smith said. "I was accused of endorsing violence. I'm not endorsing violence, I'm saying once you put your hand on a hot stove, you get burned."
Colorado Deputy Secretary of State Chris Beall testified that 46 of Colorado’s 64 counties had passwords visible on the spreadsheet, but 12 of those counties had old passwords that had already been replaced with new ones.
He testified that he would not call this a “security breach.”
In 2021, the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office said the disclosure of these passwords “alone” was a “serious breach of voting system security protocols.”
Beall testified that he would not call this a publishing of passwords, saying that publishing implies intent. He said it was a disclosure that should not have happened.
During his testimony, Beall said that the breach of passwords by Peters in Mesa County in 2021 is “substantially different” than this breach because in 2021 there was unknown in-person access to the voting machines.
Beall testified that he has no information that any unauthorized person has had access to the machine from this breach, but the office is currently in the process of evaluating.
Libertarian Party chairwoman Hannah Goodman testified that she brought the case because her party’s candidates are spoilers. She testified that she is “deeply concerned” that the vote totals will not be accurate and will impact the party’s strategy of being a spoiler.
The hearing ended at 5:52 p.m. Monday. Denver District County Judge Kandace Gerdes issued her ruling around 2 p.m. Tuesday.