The employee, described as a ‘civil servant,’ now ‘no longer works’ in the office, the secretary of state said.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said that the worker who was responsible for a voting security breach that allowed passwords to be posted online is gone and that the incident shouldn’t shake residents’ confidence in the election.
Speaking to Colorado Public Radio on Wednesday, Griswold said that the employee, a “civil servant,” now “no longer works” for her office after the incident.
“A civil servant accidentally made this error. Out of an abundance of caution, we have people in the field working to reset passwords and review access logs for affected counties,” she said. “The employee responsible for the hidden tabs on the spreadsheet no longer works with the department and we are doing everything that we can to, of course, assure the public and work with the counties.
“And, again, this is out of an abundance of caution. We do not believe there is a security threat to Colorado’s elections.”
It’s unclear if the employee was terminated or if the individual, who was not identified, resigned. The Epoch Times contacted the secretary’s office for comment but received no response by publication time.
Griswold said her office is now working to address the matter. She also claimed that “lies,” “conspiracies,” and “threats” against election workers have resulted in high turnover rates among county clerks who handle elections.
The passwords were left on a spreadsheet online for months, Griswold announced on Tuesday. She said local, state, and federal agencies were working together to change the passwords and analyze logs to ensure there hadn’t been any tampering.
The Colorado County Clerks Association said in a statement that because Colorado’s voting systems have layers of safeguards, and with the remediation plan already in motion, “county clerks can say with confidence that Colorado elections are secure.”
Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign sent a letter to Griswold to express concern, which followed a similar letter from the chairman of the Colorado GOP. Griswold responded in a letter on Thursday evening, saying that because of the many security levels, “no single error can compromise the integrity of the system” and that the leak presents “no immediate threat.”
