Colorado Secretary of State’s Office Adopts Emergency Rules for Voting Systems

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office has adopted emergency elections rules prohibiting third parties from accessing voting equipment in the state of Colorado.

“Colorado’s elections are considered the safest in the nation, and we must remain steadfast in our dedication to security,” said Secretary of State Jena Griswold.  “Along those lines, no third-party person or vendor will be permitted access to voting equipment in our state.  We will not risk the state’s election security nor perpetuate The Big Lie.  Sham audits have no place in Colorado.”

The new and amended rules, which have been implemented immediately, reinforce who can access state-certified voting systems.  In order to access any component of a county’s voting system, a person must have passed a comprehensive criminal background check and be either an employee of the county clerk, an employee of the voting system provider, an employee of the Secretary of State’s Office, or an appointed election judge.

The rules further enable the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office to limit or prohibit the use of, as well as decertify, any voting systems component in the event of a break-in its chain-of-custody or other hardware security compromises, such that its security and integrity can no longer be verified.

A third-party vendor with no election experience is currently performing a faulty, insecure election audit in Arizona, and calls for such sham audits have been spreading in other states. Several Colorado counties have been contacted by third parties offering to conduct audits. Colorado already administers post-election Risk Limiting Audits after every statewide election, which gives a statistical level of confidence that the outcome of an election is correct. For more information on Risk Limiting Audits, please visit https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections.