Colorado voting officials feud over alleged security breach

DENVER — What began as an investigation into how election equipment passwords from a rural Colorado county got posted on a right wing blog has turned into a feud between the state’s Democratic secretary of state and the county’s conservative clerk. Colorado’s Democratic Secretary of State Jenna Griswold then took her turn in the war-of-words Thursday at a news conference, when she said that Mesa County would have to replace its voting equipment and that Peters was responsible for the security breach. On Monday, Griswold ordered Peters to hand over Mesa County’s election equipment, video footage of the equipment and other relevant materials to state officials. Colorado has a Democratic governor and a Democrat-dominated Legislature and Peters called Mesa County the state’s “last bastion of freedom.” At the event with Lindell, Peters said that Griswold’s staff “raided” the county’s office after presenting a search warrant and that state officials wouldn’t let Mesa County’s chief deputy clerk observe the investigation being conducted by Griswold and Dominion Voting Systems, “After several hours, they allowed my chief deputy to come in and they go ‘Oh, Look at this. Griswold, in describing the investigation, said: “To be very clear, Mesa County Clerk and Recorder allowed a security breach and by all evidence at this point, assisted it.” Griswold said the majority of Colorado’s election clerks are Republicans which shows “how untrue that statement is.” Griswold has been a national leader in the fight for voting rights and against misinformation, including leading a multi-state lawsuit against the U.S.