The Washington Post reports:
A bizarre security breach of a rural Colorado county’s voting system has in a matter of days escalated into a criminal probe of the clerk’s office, a ban on the county’s existing election equipment, and heightened partisan divides over election-fraud claims.
Footage that showed passwords related to the county’s voting systems was surreptitiously recorded during a May security update and published last week on a far-right blog, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) said Thursday. Griswold determined Mesa County cannot use its existing equipment for its November election.
Griswold alleged Mesa County Clerk Tina M. Peters (R) allowed the breach. A spokesperson for Mesa County confirmed a criminal probe headed by the 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office was underway but said it was still in the early stages.
NPR reports:
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said her office’s investigation confirmed the unauthorized person did release the passwords for the underlying voting machine software online.
“We know that that information was posted by an extreme conspiracy theorist last week,” Griswold said, referring to the Gateway Pundit, a conservative news site that traffics in election conspiracy theories.
She has prohibited Mesa County from using the current Dominion Voting equipment for the next election. The county can replace it and install new equipment in the next few weeks or do a hand count this November.
The Colorado Sun reports:
Peters, a Republican who as the investigation into her office heated up on Tuesday appeared at a “cyber symposium” hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who continued to make unsubstantiated claims about fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
“I am being persecuted,” Peters said Tuesday night during the conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she accused Griswold of “raiding” her office.
Peters also made baseless accusations that Griswold and Gov. Jared Polis are trying to “take over my office and control the way we vote.” The leaked passwords are specific to Mesa County. State officials don’t believe that any other counties were affected by the breach.
“The clerk who is under investigation for tampering with the county election system is Tina Peters, a fervent supporter of Donald Trump and amateur vaccine science aficionado, who appears to have executed a self-own of historic proportion.”https://t.co/9Adff9ZiaL
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) August 9, 2021
The BIG ANNOUNCEMENT at Mike Lindell’s Triple Platinum Cyber Symposium is the Mesa County, CO clerk who leaked voting machine records to Ron Watkins, who then failed to redact her password. She’s facing potential criminal charges. These people are stupid. pic.twitter.com/di5EDwTq3E
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) August 11, 2021
The information Tina Peters provided Ron has zero value and proves absolutely nothing in terms of fraud or misdeeds. As a reward, Ron completely screwed her over. Everything these people touch turns to shit. pic.twitter.com/rdU0I3DKqW
— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) August 11, 2021
✈️ Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters Took Lindell’s Private Jet to The Cyber Symposium. https://t.co/cJkzlKNd9y
— Venture Capital (@kelly2277) August 13, 2021
I’m at the @COSecofState for an update on the investigation into Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and her office’s voting systems. Here is your primer. https://t.co/Vp2AwrUtbK #copolitics
— Marshall Zelinger (@Marshall9News) August 12, 2021