Colorado leaders rushed to strengthen security around the state’s electoral voting system following a leak of partial passwords, deploying public safety and information technology teams to change the passwords by the end of the day.

Governor Jared Polis announced the blitz Thursday afternoon to deal with “this unfortunate leak,” a day after Trump campaign lawyers. required this Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is taking immediate action to secure the state’s elections.

On Tuesday, Griswold announced that a spreadsheet publicly posted on his office’s website for several months contained a hidden tab that led to partial passwords — a layer of a security system that relies on multiple passwords. pass and restricted access – protecting Colorado’s voting machines.

“We want to quickly resolve the current situation by lending resources to help change necessary passwords as quickly as possible with minimal impact on the county clerk’s operations,” Polis said.

Griswold on Thursday hastily named state employees who have undergone background checks for deployment statewide. They were required to enter restricted areas in pairs to update passwords on election materials at county offices, while local staff observed.

County clerks secure voting machines behind locked doors. State public safety officials informed Polis of the leak Wednesday morning and he spoke with Griswold Wednesday afternoon, officials for the governor said. The teams deployed to the counties include employees from state public safety, homeland security, information technology and the Colorado State Patrol. Federal law enforcement officials were also involved.

“Colorado has countless layers of security to ensure voters’ voices are heard,” Griswold said in a prepared statement. “I thank the governor for his support in quickly resolving this unfortunate error.”

In a letter sent to Griswold on Wednesday, lawyers for former President Donald Trump’s Republican campaign said disclosing the password violates state law and “undermines the integrity of our elections.” They asked Griswold to immediately identify the counties affected by the security breach, notify them, ask them to stop processing mail-in ballots and prepare to re-scan all ballots .

“We recognize that these measures may be an inconvenience to your office and to the affected counties. But this inconvenience is necessary because it is the only way to ensure that election equipment in counties whose current BIOS passwords have been disclosed by your office is secure and that the chain of custody for that equipment required by law and Colorado’s regulations are uninterrupted. said the letter from Scott Gessler, a Republican attorney with Gessler Blue LLC representing the Trump campaign. Gessler served as secretary of state from 2011 to 2014.

The letter asked Griswold, a Democrat, to confirm by 10 a.m. Thursday that “you will take these steps.” Secretary of State spokesman Jack Todd confirmed receipt of the letter but did not respond to questions from The Denver Post about whether officials had taken or would take the requested action. State officials were first informed of the breach on Oct. 24, and password changes began Tuesday, Todd said.

A letter that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Beall sent Thursday to Gessler and Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams says state officials consulted with federal security authorities and concluded that Gessler’s words leaked passwords posed “no immediate threat to the security of Colorado’s voting systems” or to the elections. . “No error can compromise the integrity of the system. …..the security of our voting systems is not at risk,” Beall wrote.