PRESS RELEASE: Colorado’s Compromised Election Process

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2024
Contact: Tara Menza
tara@bocogop.org

Colorado’s Compromised Election Process

Boulder, CO. – Boulder County Republicans are calling for an investigation and change of leadership in the Secretary of State’s Office due to the latest revelations in compromised security for our election systems.

There is an immediate threat to our election systems due to the recent disclosure of BIOS passwords and Wi-Fi modules in tabulating computers in 63 Colorado counties. The combination of these two security breaches can allow a nefarious activity or malicious software to remotely access election management systems (EMS) and potentially manipulate election results and/or ballots.

The BIOS password public disclosure violates Tampering with Voting Equipment C.R.S. §1-13-708 and the inclusion of the Wi-Fi modules violate Rule 20.5.3(b)(3). These violations were committed by the Secretary of State’s Office and County Clerks in the 12 counties that still have Wi-Fi modules in their EMS.

The recent change to Rule 20.5(c)(12) is insufficient to comply with Colorado Statutes.

The only appropriate remedy is to:

• Expeditiously compile and test a new Trusted Build per Rule 20.6.1;
• Require all counties that still have Wi-Fi modules in their EMS equipment to remove them before applying the new Trusted Build;
• Instruct impacted counties to conduct a new Logic and Accuracy Test for their election equipment; and
• Immediately halt the processing of all ballots and begin tabulating all ballots with the new Trusted Build.

This remedy is consistent with the recommendations demanded by the Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Campaign and with statements made by the Secretary of State’s Office over the years and under sworn testimony.

Boulder County Republicans are leaders in the effort to improve election integrity for every eligible voter, which is why we have worked closely with our County Clerk and Recorder’s Office over the years to improve voting security. Strides have been made, however, we feel there are several vulnerabilities that should be addressed to improve voter confidence in the election process:

• Ballot drop boxes with insufficient video surveillance to identify election violations;
• Poor training and minimal testing to qualify signature verification judges and an unaudited signature verification system;
• Inability to have 3rd parties audit election results and EMS software;
• Discrepancies in the number of returned undeliverable ballots between counties and the USPS; and
• Outdated voter rolls that contain many ineligible and deceased voters.

The compounding of these election integrity issues lead us to believe that severe oversight is needed by the Colorado Legislative Audit Committee to review the complete election process. A criminal investigation should be initiated immediately to determine if the Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Beall, and other election officials violated Tampering with Voting Equipment C.R.S. § 1-13-708 and committed Official Misconduct per C.R.S. § 18-8-404 by intentionally not disclosing the password breach as required.