Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Halloween. In case anybody has forgotten, we thought
we should simply ask you for a poll question this morning.
Do you like and or celebrate Halloween? Just a couple options,
just know and I guess it depends, and most people
right now saying yes at fifty three percent.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now on Colorado's Morning News, the secretary of State's office
accidentally posting passwords for the state's voting system online. Secretary
of State Jenna Griswold issuing a statement pointing out that
it takes two passwords to get into a voting machine,
as well as physical access to that.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Machine and joining us now in the koa common Spirit
health hotline is Colorado's Secretary of State, Jennet Griswold. Secretary,
thank you for joining us this morning. I'll just ask
it at the jump here. Will you resign your position? No?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Absolutely not. To be very clear, this does not pose
an immediate security threat. When we discovered this accident, a
civil servant accidentally had hidden tabs on a spreadsheet with
partial passwords. We immediately alerted federal authorities, including SISSO, which
is the oversight authority to protect our critical infrastructure. They
(01:03):
did not see it at the time. As an immediate
security threat, and with that, we've been making sure to
take an abundance of caution to address the situation.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So, Terry Griswold, we had Assistant House Minority Leader Ty
Winter on earlier this morning, who's also calling for your resignation.
We asked him if he had a question for you,
because we knew we'd be having you on about an
hour later. So this is what he asked.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
But I would like you to ask her is when
is she going to start taking responsibility for these things?
And when is she going to start and stop making excuses.
That's the question that I would like you to ask
her and quit putting it off on her staff, because
at the end of the day, she's the boss, she's
the leader.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What would be your response to that, And in addition
to that, when it comes to the staff or when
was the staffer fired or let go or what did
the situation unveil with that?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Well, first off, you know, I think this just underlines
the part of the nature of the Colorado Publican legislator's response.
The representative could have very well picked up the phone
and called me, but instead wants to funnel questions through
you all and I do take my job very seriously.
At the end of the day, I want to underscore
that the people in my office are doing an amazing
(02:15):
job under intense scrutiny, and I not never want anyone
to make a mistake. But we have layers and layers
and layers of security to make sure that any one
mistake does not open up a vulnerability. Again, we do
not have a security threat. We have layers of security.
(02:36):
And instead of us having a conversation about the layers
of security, we're having a conversation about the partisan which
hunts that Colorado Republicans continue to want to pursue. I
am going to continue to defend our election system and
just to explain how our voting systems work is that
you need two passwords and in person access to actually
(03:00):
use the passwords. The passwords are held in separate places
by different parties. On top of that, under Colorado law,
I've actually strengthened the security of how voting equipment is stored.
Voting equipment is behind secure ID badge access rooms. They
have twenty four to severn cameras. People are tracked when
(03:21):
they come in and go out. There's restricted access to
secure ballot areas, there's a strict chain of custody, and
it's a felony to assessdo of voting equipment. To be
very clear, again, we have no reason to believe that
this is an immediate security threat to Colorado's election system.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
There's no doubt this is a partisan issue, Secretary Griswold,
But it has to be asked, why does a mistake
like this happen, How did it happen, and frankly, why
does this continue to seem to happen while you're in office.
This is not one of the first mistakes you've had.
We've heard about and talked about the postcards being sent
out for people to vote thirty thousand or so for
those that are non CITI. Since why is there something
(04:01):
going in your office that you continually seem to run
up against these mistakes and errors.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
No, I don't think there is. And to be very clear,
after the post card that you're referencing, which again Republicans
in our state legislature has spun out into misinformation. Colorado's
reelected me by thirteen points. There is so much scrutiny
on elections right now that things that otherwise prior to
(04:31):
twenty sixteen. Wouldn't make your show, wouldn't make news, now
make headlines because of the misinformation atmosphere. Again, we never
want any mistakes to happen with this exact scenario. We
take it very furiously and out of an abundance of caution,
are changing the passwords. Well, what happened is the civil
(04:54):
servant accidently made the error. The employee responsible for having
hidden chabs on a spreadsheet no longer works with the department.
I do take this extremely seriously. We will be having
an outside personnel investigation to look at the particulars of
how this occurred. While taking this seriously, I want to
(05:15):
again underscore there is no security threat or breach, and
I think it's really unfortunate to have people like that
representative stir this up into a partisan issue. This is
a security issue. We immediately alerted federal oversight of our
election infrastructure, who also said there is no eminent security
(05:38):
threat and we're addressing this situation out of an abundance
of caution.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Screterry Griswold you say immediate, but we spoke with Matt
Crane yesterday. He said the passwords have been posted online,
possibly since mid to late June. You were made aware
of it a week ago on October twenty fourth, but
reportedly the passwords were not changed until it was made
public Tuesday of this week. So why did it go
unnoticed for so long and why did it take about
days to change the passwords.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
We were made aware at the end the very end
of last week and immediately lost and launched an investigation.
We immediately called SISA, which is the federal agency in
charge of protecting critical infrastructure for the nation, including elections,
and they told us immediately this is not a security
threat and that there was no need to change the
(06:26):
passwords immediately. Our investigation was focused on figuring out the facts,
figuring out counties affected security implications, and we actually did
have someone already on the road to an effective county
but before this broke in the news. So again, be reassured,
there's no eminent security risk. This is an unfortunate situation.
(06:49):
We never want anybody to make a mistake, but that's
why we have redundancies in our security posture, because humans
do make mistakes. This password does not get you access
to anything. You need physical access to use a password.
There are two passwords held by two separate parties. The
(07:09):
voting equipment and the voting components are behind a locked
store that requires a secure ID. There's twenty four Severn cameras,
and of course we vote on a piece of paper.
We do audits after the fact, so if there is
ever an issue, we can go back and recount those
paper ballots. We have no evidence whatsoever that there is
(07:31):
an issue, but out of an abundance of caution, we
are resetting the passwords on voting equipment affected in the state.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Secretary Griswold, let's set aside all that for the moment.
I think with some of our listeners, and probably even
some people that share your political perspective, they have a
hard time because I don't think they've ever heard you
say the words I am accountable. This is my team,
but it's my mistake because I'm the captain of the ship.
And having said that, maybe that's what they want to hear.
At the same time, you know already you've got a
(08:01):
real focus. I hate to use the term target on
your back, but you've made your job harder. You've made
other county clerk's jobs harder because of the mistakes. Isn't
there any accountability for this? Especially since you keep saying
it's a partisan notion and nation with these things, but
you continue to draw attention to yourself with these actions.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So I'm not quite sure what the question is, but I.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Guess what they're saying are they're looking for you to
stand up as the Secretary of State to say, even
all those things can be true, that the elections are
safe and secure because of the data you shared, something
like this still should not happen on my watch. I'm
in charge, I'm accountable. It's my mistake, my bad. I apologize.
It won't happen again. I'm not telling you what to say,
but I think that's what listeners and people are looking
(08:46):
for you to say in some form or fashion.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Well, I have said that from the very beginning. At
the end of the day, I'm the Secretary of State,
and the buck stops with me. Folks want to know
how exactly this happened. This is my office. We take
these issues very seriously. At the end of the day,
what civil servants do is the responsibility lays with me.
(09:12):
But folks also want to know what exactly happened. Secretaries
of state do not have access to these passwords, just
like we do. Not have access to the state wide
voter registration system to stop any appearance impropriety or any
concern that in a partisan elected secretary would have access
to voting equipment or voter information of Colorado voters. So
(09:34):
I want to make sure that we're transparent. I want
to be very clear of what happened. We are being
very clear on the level of threat, which is we
do not have a serious threat, And of course I
take all responsibility for what the employees in my agency do.
The one thing going back to the conversation you were
(09:55):
having with the legislator is that we have over and
over and over and over again ask legislators to better
fund my office, understanding that we have seen this massive
attack on democracy and people are running just around the
clock and we need more resources. That has been continually
denied our requests for more resources, and hopefully we can
(10:18):
have a real sensible conversation that yes, we need more
resources in our office to make sure that everybody has
what they need to run great elections.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Secretarry Griswold, why wasn't county clerks notified immediately on this matter?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So again, as soon as we learned about it, we
launched an investigation and worked with our federal partners, who
number one said, like, we assessed, this is not an
immediate security risk. There is not an immediate need to
change partial passwords, and we launched an investigation and.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Was this this was an internal investigation? Correct? Yes, so
will this be thoroughly investigated by the Attorney General's Office
or any other agencies.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
What we are doing is having an outside personnel investigation
to determine exactly what happened. But we know what happened.
Everybody has been very forthcoming, and again I understand that
(11:31):
we apologize that this happened and it should not have happened.
What I really want to caution against is indicating that
there is a security threat when there is not. We
take this very seriously, and outside personnel investigation will come
in to again address and investigate what happened internally, but
(11:56):
there is no immediate security threat. Eployees have been very
forthcoming with the accident that happened. They're beside themselves and
out of an abundance of caution. Folks are in the
fields yesterday today remediating the issue.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Secretary of State Jenni Griswold, thank you, hey, thank you,
It is Halloween. In case anybody has forgotten, we thought
we should simply ask you for a poll question this morning.
Do you like and or celebrate Halloween? Just a couple options,
just know and I guess it depends, and most people
right now saying yes at fifty three percent.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now on Colorado's Morning News, the secretary of State's office
accidentally posting passwords for the state's voting system online. Secretary
of State Jenna Griswold issuing a statement pointing out that
it takes two passwords to get into a voting machine,
as well as physical access to that.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Machine and joining us now in the koa common Spirit
health hotline is Colorado's Secretary of State, Jennet Griswold. Secretary,
thank you for joining us this morning. I'll just ask
it at the jump here. Will you resign your position? No?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Absolutely not. To be very clear, this does not pose
an immediate security threat. When we discovered this accident, a
civil servant accidentally had hidden tabs on a spreadsheet with
partial passwords. We immediately alerted federal authorities, including SISSO, which
is the oversight authority to protect our critical infrastructure. They
(01:03):
did not see it at the time. As an immediate
security threat, and with that, we've been making sure to
take an abundance of caution to address the situation.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So, Terry Griswold, we had Assistant House Minority Leader Ty
Winter on earlier this morning, who's also calling for your resignation.
We asked him if he had a question for you,
because we knew we'd be having you on about an
hour later. So this is what he asked.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
But I would like you to ask her is when
is she going to start taking responsibility for these things?
And when is she going to start and stop making excuses.
That's the question that I would like you to ask
her and quit putting it off on her staff, because
at the end of the day, she's the boss, she's
the leader.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
What would be your response to that, And in addition
to that, when it comes to the staff or when
was the staffer fired or let go or what did
the situation unveil with that?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Well, first off, you know, I think this just underlines
the part of the nature of the Colorado Publican legislator's response.
The representative could have very well picked up the phone
and called me, but instead wants to funnel questions through
you all and I do take my job very seriously.
At the end of the day, I want to underscore
that the people in my office are doing an amazing
(02:15):
job under intense scrutiny, and I not never want anyone
to make a mistake. But we have layers and layers
and layers of security to make sure that any one
mistake does not open up a vulnerability. Again, we do
not have a security threat. We have layers of security.
(02:36):
And instead of us having a conversation about the layers
of security, we're having a conversation about the partisan which
hunts that Colorado Republicans continue to want to pursue. I
am going to continue to defend our election system and
just to explain how our voting systems work is that
you need two passwords and in person access to actually
(03:00):
use the passwords. The passwords are held in separate places
by different parties. On top of that, under Colorado law,
I've actually strengthened the security of how voting equipment is stored.
Voting equipment is behind secure ID badge access rooms. They
have twenty four to severn cameras. People are tracked when
(03:21):
they come in and go out. There's restricted access to
secure ballot areas, there's a strict chain of custody, and
it's a felony to assessdo of voting equipment. To be
very clear, again, we have no reason to believe that
this is an immediate security threat to Colorado's election system.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
There's no doubt this is a partisan issue, Secretary Griswold,
But it has to be asked, why does a mistake
like this happen, How did it happen, and frankly, why
does this continue to seem to happen while you're in office.
This is not one of the first mistakes you've had.
We've heard about and talked about the postcards being sent
out for people to vote thirty thousand or so for
those that are non CITI. Since why is there something
(04:01):
going in your office that you continually seem to run
up against these mistakes and errors.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
No, I don't think there is. And to be very clear,
after the post card that you're referencing, which again Republicans
in our state legislature has spun out into misinformation. Colorado's
reelected me by thirteen points. There is so much scrutiny
on elections right now that things that otherwise prior to
(04:31):
twenty sixteen. Wouldn't make your show, wouldn't make news, now
make headlines because of the misinformation atmosphere. Again, we never
want any mistakes to happen with this exact scenario. We
take it very furiously and out of an abundance of caution,
are changing the passwords. Well, what happened is the civil
(04:54):
servant accidently made the error. The employee responsible for having
hidden chabs on a spreadsheet no longer works with the department.
I do take this extremely seriously. We will be having
an outside personnel investigation to look at the particulars of
how this occurred. While taking this seriously, I want to
(05:15):
again underscore there is no security threat or breach, and
I think it's really unfortunate to have people like that
representative stir this up into a partisan issue. This is
a security issue. We immediately alerted federal oversight of our
election infrastructure, who also said there is no eminent security
(05:38):
threat and we're addressing this situation out of an abundance
of caution.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Screterry Griswold you say immediate, but we spoke with Matt
Crane yesterday. He said the passwords have been posted online,
possibly since mid to late June. You were made aware
of it a week ago on October twenty fourth, but
reportedly the passwords were not changed until it was made
public Tuesday of this week. So why did it go
unnoticed for so long and why did it take about
days to change the passwords.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
We were made aware at the end the very end
of last week and immediately lost and launched an investigation.
We immediately called SISA, which is the federal agency in
charge of protecting critical infrastructure for the nation, including elections,
and they told us immediately this is not a security
threat and that there was no need to change the
(06:26):
passwords immediately. Our investigation was focused on figuring out the facts,
figuring out counties affected security implications, and we actually did
have someone already on the road to an effective county
but before this broke in the news. So again, be reassured,
there's no eminent security risk. This is an unfortunate situation.
(06:49):
We never want anybody to make a mistake, but that's
why we have redundancies in our security posture, because humans
do make mistakes. This password does not get you access
to anything. You need physical access to use a password.
There are two passwords held by two separate parties. The
(07:09):
voting equipment and the voting components are behind a locked
store that requires a secure ID. There's twenty four Severn cameras,
and of course we vote on a piece of paper.
We do audits after the fact, so if there is
ever an issue, we can go back and recount those
paper ballots. We have no evidence whatsoever that there is
(07:31):
an issue, but out of an abundance of caution, we
are resetting the passwords on voting equipment affected in the state.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Secretary Griswold, let's set aside all that for the moment.
I think with some of our listeners, and probably even
some people that share your political perspective, they have a
hard time because I don't think they've ever heard you
say the words I am accountable. This is my team,
but it's my mistake because I'm the captain of the ship.
And having said that, maybe that's what they want to hear.
At the same time, you know already you've got a
(08:01):
real focus. I hate to use the term target on
your back, but you've made your job harder. You've made
other county clerk's jobs harder because of the mistakes. Isn't
there any accountability for this? Especially since you keep saying
it's a partisan notion and nation with these things, but
you continue to draw attention to yourself with these actions.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So I'm not quite sure what the question is, but I.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Guess what they're saying are they're looking for you to
stand up as the Secretary of State to say, even
all those things can be true, that the elections are
safe and secure because of the data you shared, something
like this still should not happen on my watch. I'm
in charge, I'm accountable. It's my mistake, my bad. I apologize.
It won't happen again. I'm not telling you what to say,
but I think that's what listeners and people are looking
(08:46):
for you to say in some form or fashion.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Well, I have said that from the very beginning. At
the end of the day, I'm the Secretary of State,
and the buck stops with me. Folks want to know
how exactly this happened. This is my office. We take
these issues very seriously. At the end of the day,
what civil servants do is the responsibility lays with me.
(09:12):
But folks also want to know what exactly happened. Secretaries
of state do not have access to these passwords, just
like we do. Not have access to the state wide
voter registration system to stop any appearance impropriety or any
concern that in a partisan elected secretary would have access
to voting equipment or voter information of Colorado voters. So
(09:34):
I want to make sure that we're transparent. I want
to be very clear of what happened. We are being
very clear on the level of threat, which is we
do not have a serious threat, And of course I
take all responsibility for what the employees in my agency do.
The one thing going back to the conversation you were
(09:55):
having with the legislator is that we have over and
over and over and over again ask legislators to better
fund my office, understanding that we have seen this massive
attack on democracy and people are running just around the
clock and we need more resources. That has been continually
denied our requests for more resources, and hopefully we can
(10:18):
have a real sensible conversation that yes, we need more
resources in our office to make sure that everybody has
what they need to run great elections.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Secretarry Griswold, why wasn't county clerks notified immediately on this matter?
Speaker 3 (10:36):
So again, as soon as we learned about it, we
launched an investigation and worked with our federal partners, who
number one said, like, we assessed, this is not an
immediate security risk. There is not an immediate need to
change partial passwords, and we launched an investigation and.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Was this this was an internal investigation? Correct? Yes, so
will this be thoroughly investigated by the Attorney General's Office
or any other agencies.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
What we are doing is having an outside personnel investigation
to determine exactly what happened. But we know what happened.
Everybody has been very forthcoming, and again I understand that
(11:31):
we apologize that this happened and it should not have happened.
What I really want to caution against is indicating that
there is a security threat when there is not. We
take this very seriously, and outside personnel investigation will come
in to again address and investigate what happened internally, but
(11:56):
there is no immediate security threat. Eployees have been very
forthcoming with the accident that happened. They're beside themselves and
out of an abundance of caution. Folks are in the
fields yesterday today remediating the issue.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Secretary of State Jenni Griswold, thank you, hey, thank you,
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