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Editorial: Colorado’s leaked password scandal needs outside investigation

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Editorial: Colorado’s leaked password scandal needs outside investigation


Between Oct. 23 when Secretary of State Jena Griswold became aware that hundreds of voting machine passwords had been released publicly on a spreadsheet and Nov. 1 when Gov. Jared Polis intervened to demand the passwords be changed, what exactly was Griswold doing to address the security breach?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Because this feels a lot like déjà vu with Jena Griswold.

In 2022 when we endorsed Griswold’s Republican opponent we wrote: “Griswold has left us unimpressed with her unwillingness to address problems and issues as they arise and even a reluctance to admit when mistakes have been made, or things could be improved.”

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Here we are two years later in the midst of one of the most closely scrutinized elections of all time and Griswold’s team makes a crucial error and the secretary of state sits on it for at least a week before taking action.

We’re perplexed by the entire ordeal.

Colorado’s elections are very secure – every voter casts a paper ballot that is retained for recounts and risk-limiting audits. Those ballots are public record and can be cross-checked with the public list of participating voters to ensure the numbers add up and to ensure the voters are real, eligible, alive Coloradans.

The passwords leaked were one of two needed to access the voting machines and the machines are stored in secure areas kept under constant surveillance.

All of this means it is unlikely that any harm came from the passwords being publicly released beginning as early as Aug. 8 and ending Oct. 23.

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However, it doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to believe it’s possible the passwords weren’t leaked on accident. Did a rogue secretary of state employee – someone with delusions of grandeur on the scale of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters – intentionally release the passwords? Was the intent to cast a pall on the election or was he or she conspiring with someone else – Democrat or Republican — to breach election machines?

These unanswered questions are why an external investigation is needed. Griswold has said she will hire an external company to review the incident, but we think the investigation needs to be beyond her control entirely. Gov. Jared Polis has done an excellent job stepping up in Griswold’s absence on this issue and he should do so again by having the investigator spur from his office.

Peters used her role as clerk to give someone access to the voting machines in Mesa County and steal data related to the election. No real harm came from her antics and the data proved what most Coloradans already knew – the elections were secure and valid.

But that didn’t stop Peters from jetting off around the country claiming she had proof that the 2020 election was stolen.

In a similar vein, it was someone involved with discrediting the 2020 election on behalf of former President Donald Trump who first discovered the passwords in a hidden sheet on a database of election equipment that could be downloaded from the secretary of state’s website. Shawn Smith signed an affidavit that was sent to Griswold’s office on Oct. 29 stating he had downloaded the spreadsheets on Aug. 8, Oct. 16 and Oct. 23. The link to the spreadsheets was taken down on Oct. 24 when Griswold’s office noticed the passwords, but no information was released officially about the link until after Smith and the Colorado Republican Party sent out public notices about the passwords they had obtained.

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Coloradans deserve to know exactly how and why the passwords were released whether it was a simple mistake, negligence or a nefarious act.

Griswold and Polis have assured Coloradans that no voting machines were compromised — the fear being of course that someone inside a county clerk’s office used the passwords, combined with theirs and their access to the machines to upload malware that could interfere with the integrity of ballot counting.

We need someone to review the security tapes and investigate just as we did following the Peters’ security breach in Mesa County. Tina Peters was sentenced to 9 years behind bars for her data breach, based in large part on the investigation into her actions led by Griswold. This security breach should be investigated just as thoroughly, as should be Griswold’s lack of response.

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Warm storm delivers modest totals to Colorado’s northern mountains

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Warm storm delivers modest totals to Colorado’s northern mountains


Arapahoe Basin Ski Area recorded 8.5 inches of snow through Friday morning.
Lucas Herbert/Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

Friday morning wrapped up a warm storm across Colorado’s northern and central mountains, bringing totals of up to 10 inches of snowfall for several resorts.

Higher elevation areas of the northern mountains — particularly those in and near Summit County and closer to the Continental Divide — received the most amount of snow, with Copper, Winter Park and Breckenridge mountains seeing among the highest totals.

Meanwhile, lower base areas and valleys received rain and cloudy skies, thanks to a warmer storm with a snow line of roughly 9,000 feet.



Earlier this week, OpenSnow meteorologists predicted the storm’s snow totals would be around 5-10 inches, closely matching actual totals for the northern mountains. The central mountains all saw less than 5 inches of snow.

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Here’s how much snow fell between Wednesday through Friday morning for some Western Slope mountains, according to a Friday report from OpenSnow:



Aspen Mountain: 0.5 inches

Snowmass: 0.5 inches

Copper Mountain: 10 inches

Winter Park: 9 inches

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Breckenridge Ski Resort: 9 inches

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area: 8.5 inches

Keystone Resort: 8 inches

Loveland Ski Area: 7 inches

Vail Mountain: 7 inches

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Steamboat Resort: 6 inches

Beaver Creek: 6 inches

Irwin: 4.5 inches

Cooper Mountain: 4 inches

Sunlight: 0.5 inches

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Friday and Saturday will be dry, while Sunday will bring northern showers. The next storms are forecast to be around March 3-4 and March 6-7, both favoring the northern mountains.





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Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild

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Avalanche discipline, power play falters, Central Division lead shrinks in 5-2 loss to Wild


The Colorado Avalanche had a chance Thursday night to regain some real separation between them and the Minnesota Wild.

It didn’t happen, and special teams were again an issue.

Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek scored a pair of power-play goals, while the Avalanche took too many penalties and did not convert its chances with the extra man in a 5-2 loss at Ball Arena. The Wild scored on two of six power plays, both in the second period, then added a shorthanded goal into an empty net for good measure.

“We took six (penalties). Six is too many, especially against a power play like theirs,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a slow start to the second and then just kind of started getting going, then took a bunch of penalties and kind of took the momentum away and swung it back in their favor again.”

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Mackenzie Blackwood was excellent early in this contest and stopped 31 of 34 shots for the Avs in his first start since the Olympic break. Colorado, which went 0-for-3 on the power play, has not scored an extra-man goal in back-to-back games since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The Avs are 2-for-31 with the man advantage since Jan. 16, and at 15.1% are last in the NHL.

The Wild are now just five points behind the Avs in the Central Division, though Colorado has two games in hand. Filip Gustavsson made 44 saves for the visitors.

“I think we crated enough chances to win the hockey game,” Bednar said. “We give up the (second power-play goal) and that’s the difference in the hockey game for me. We had a chance (on the power play) … we score and it’s a tie game. We haven’t had an easy time capitalizing on some of our chances that we created in the last month.

“I’d like to see that turn around a little bit.”

Minnesota took advantage of three penalties on Colorado in a span of 53 seconds to take the lead with 2:23 left in the second period. Captain Gabe Landeskog was sent to the box for elbowing Eriksson Ek away from the play at 14:15 and Valeri Nichushkin was called for cross-checking at 15:04.

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That gave the Wild a 5-on-3, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry for the home side. Brock Nelson won the 3-on-5 in his own end, but Brent Burns’ backhanded attempt to clear the puck out of the zone went into the stands for a delay of game.

Minnesota had a 5-on-3 for 1:56, which Colorado successfully killed off, but because Burns’ two minutes didn’t start until Landeskog’s penalty ended, there was more 5-on-4 time and Eriksson Ek scored his second of the night. The Swedish Olympian was trying to send a cross-crease pass to Kirill Kaprizov, but it hit the inside of Blackwood’s right leg and pinballed across the goal line.

Because of the extended penalty time, both Eriksson Ek and Boldy officially logged a shift of more than four minutes, leading to that goal.

“I’m not a big fan of the penalties we took, necessarily,” Landeskog said. “Obviously, mine is a penalty. Val, I felt like he was protecting himself and Burns, that’s a penalty. There’s nothing to argue about there. But yeah, that tilts the ice for sure and just gives them unnecessary momentum.

“So yeah, undisciplined and we’ve got to be better there for sure.”

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Eriksson Ek put Minnesota in front at 7:48 of the second period. Cale Makar was called for slashing when his one-handed swipe while Yakov Trenin was attempting to shoot from the left wing. Trenin’s stick broke, so Makar went to the box.

Blackwood made the initial save on Matt Boldy’s shot from the high slot, but Eriksson Ek was there near the left post to clean up the rebound.



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Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon

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Firefighters stop spread of wildfire in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon



Late Thursday morning, a house fire spreading into the nearby woods in Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon prompted officials to issue a pre-evacuation order to nearby residents. Firefighters have since brought the blaze under control.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, a house fire broke out around 11:30 a.m. in the 10600 block of Ralston Creek Road in Golden Gate Canyon, located around 25 miles west of Denver. The fire then began to spread into the nearby trees and grass.

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Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office


Multiple fire units quickly responded to the scene, and the JCSO issued a pre-evacuation notice to all residents within a three-mile radius, warning them to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

At 12:34 p.m., the sheriff’s office announced that the fire is no longer spreading and the burn area has been contained to less than an acre. A photo shared by JCSO shows a structure nearly completely destroyed by the fire.

Pre-evacuation orders were lifted around 1 p.m.

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