While Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold did not take the blame for the incident, she said the passwords were mistakenly posted for several months and were discovered by her office. 

“Ultimately, a civil servant made a serious mistake, and we’re actively working to address it,” Griswold said. “Humans make mistakes.” 

She did not describe the incident as a threat to election integrity and said all passwords have been reset “out of an abundance of caution.” 

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“To be very clear, we do not see this as a full security threat to the state. This is not a security threat,” Griswold told 9News. 

“There are two passwords to get into any voting component, along with physical access. We have layers of security, and out of just an abundance of caution, have staff in the field changing passwords, looking at access logs and looking at the entire situation and continuing our investigation,” she continued.

The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, to which Griswold reported the leak, is working with the state of Colorado as part of its response. 

When explaining how the passwords were accidentally posted, Griswold told the station that “unfortunately,” a “civil servant” mistakenly uploaded the spreadsheet. She noted that not all of the exposed passwords were active.

Matt Crane, a former Republican Arapahoe County Clerk and current executive director of the Colorado Clerks Association, said the fact that the passwords were online despite being hidden is concerning, but the association is satisfied with the actions the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is taking.

“The truth is, is this a concern? Yes,” Crane said. “Is it being mitigated? Yes. Does this mean that all of the computers are connected to the internet and that votes are being flipped? No.”