Trial over leak of Colorado voting system passwords occurs a day before election

A one-day trial over whether election machines in 34 Colorado counties should be shut down took place in Denver District Court on Monday, a day before the general election. Colorado officials said Friday that state employees had completed the process of updating passwords on election equipment in affected counties. The press release said the secretary of state first learned of the leak from “a voting machines vendor.” Shawn Smith testifies he found the leak The leak was revealed publicly in a mass email from the Colorado Republican Party, which said it learned of the leak after an unnamed person sent to the party an affidavit attesting to how the person discovered it. Plaintiff witness Clay Parikh, a cybersecurity expert who also has ties to Lindell’s election-denial activities, testified that the leaked passwords present a “serious security breach.” Asked by Fielder if there is now “a possibility of compromising the voting system in Colorado,” Parikh responded, “There’s a very high likelihood,” given the amount of time the passwords were exposed and “the vulnerabilities of the overall system.” But Beall in his testimony, though he acknowledged the leak was “significant,” rejected the suggestion that a person in possession of the leaked passwords could change the operation of election systems. LeeAnn Morrill, first assistant state attorney general, who represented Griswold and Beall during the trial, said, “We do not think there is any factual or legal basis for this court to award the extraordinary and unprecedented relief that the petitioners seek.” “It cannot be overstated the chaos” that would come from shutting down voting system equipment, Morrill argued.