On Oct. 31, the Colorado Information Analysis Center, one of the security groups for the state’s Office of Information Technology, sent two employees to the Gunnison County Clerk and Recorder’s Office to update the equipment included in a recent password leak. The two back-up devices affected haven't been used in years and are not currently in use for the coming election, said Gunnison County Elections Director Michael Metcalf.
“We're in the clear and good to go,” Metcalf said. “There should be no more issues going forward for us.”
In June, the Secretary of State’s Office, led by Jena Griswold, unintentionally posted Colorado voting equipment passwords to its public-facing website. State officials were alerted on Oct. 24 and took immediate action to address the situation. The Colorado Republican Party informed the clerk’s office of the breach on the afternoon of Oct. 29.
The Secretary of State’s Office sent out teams to update older machines across the state, which could be impacted by the leaked passwords, including Gunnison County. According to a press release issued this morning, within hours of being briefed on Oct. 30, Gov. Jared Polis deployed “human capital, air and ground assets, and other logistical support” to the Secretary of State’s Office to change passwords in affected counties and confirm that no settings had been altered in any of the election equipment.
The work wrapped up Thursday evening and was overseen by county election officials.
(The Gunnison Country Times can be contacted at 970.641.1414.)
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