Investigation launched into Colorado voting systems security breach

The 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office in Denver is investigating alleged violations of elections laws following the publication of voting machine passwords by the Colorado Secretary of State's Office during the run-up to the Nov. 5 general election.

A Nov. 8 press release from the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Colorado Springs stated that the Denver DA's Office requested its cooperation in the Denver office's investigation. 

The list of passwords to voting machines across the state was accidentally published on a "subpage" of the Secretary of State's website, according to an office spokesman. The office learned of the leaked list on Oct. 24. The spreadsheet was publicly available for five months before the office was alerted of its exposure, prompting criticism from state Republicans.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said her office contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that same day. 

A day later, the office determined voting systems in 34 of Colorado's 64 counties were impacted. The office did not explain the details of those impacts other than to say no settings had been changed on any of the impacted active voting equipment.

All the passwords were reset by the end of business on Oct. 31, after which, Griswold said "elections are secure."

Griswold's communications director, Jack Todd, told CBS News Colorado that an employee accidentally made the passwords public. That staff member "amicably left the department" before the leak was discovered. 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called for an outside investigation into the incident. 

Monday, the Secretary of State's Office released a statement:

"The Department of State is supporting and working closely with the Denver District Attorney's investigation into the staff's posting of a file that included voting system component passwords. We welcome the additional transparency that this investigation will provide to the public. Please direct any further questions about the investigation by the Denver District Attorney to their office."