Our Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and her office should immediately be investigated for violating numerous Colorado laws related to the publication of election-related passwords. The governor should use his authority to appoint independent prosecutors to take on this critical task. If Gov. Jared Polis does not order an investigation, it can only be due to partisan politics. It will look and smell like a cover-up, and Colorado voters will have reason to mistrust our voting system and to blame the Democrats for it.

This should not be an issue of politics; it is an issue of election integrity and justice. Here are the facts:

Many months ago, Griswold’s office published passwords related to our voting system to the internet for the planet earth to access. Griswold claims to have learned about the self-inflicted data breach right after her Oct. 23 press conference in Mesa County — the one during which she rushed to reveal the failure of our election system to catch stolen and illegally voted ballots despite the signature verification software. Griswold kept that damning revelation a secret from the county clerks processing jillions of ballots through our election machines. She kept it a secret from the public, too.

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The Colorado GOP discovered Griswold’s online password dump and alerted the media. Then — and only then — did Griswold face the public. Kyle Clark of 9News conducted a 15-minute interview that must be watched and rewatched to truly appreciate. During the interview, Griswold revealed, among many eye-opening things, her office was investigating itself — no outside agency was invited in — and she had not decided if she would ever tell the public — until the GOP did Colorado voters a big favor.

Griswold cannot be trusted to investigate herself or her office. She is in a position to manipulate and destroy the evidence to which Colorado is entitled. We must be deliberate and quick to act. We should use the Tina Peters case as a model.

Peters was recently sentenced to nine years of total incarceration for violating numerous criminal and election laws. Griswold sought and cheered on Peters’ prosecution and incarceration.

The allegations in Peters’ indictment include that “passwords had been published on the internet” and “the public dissemination of this sensitive information constituted an unauthorized data breach. The compromised sensitive data included… unique Basic Input/Basic Output (BIOS) confidential passwords…” Sound familiar?

In response to the Peters case, Griswold championed sweeping changes to our election laws, usurping local control in exchange for greater authority vested in her office. SB 22-153, called the Colorado Election Security Act, specified the Secretary of State “oversees the conduct of statewide elections in Colorado as chief election official and is responsible for ensuring that elections are conducted in compliance with state and federal law.” That is called a “duty,” and it will play a role in the criminal charges below.

The new law also created a new crime specifically about passwords. It reads in its entirety:

“Any person who knowingly publishes or causes to be published passwords or other confidential information relating to a voting system shall immediately have their authorized access revoked and is guilty of a class 5 felony.” That fits here.

There’s more. Second Degree Official Misconduct (Peters was convicted of this) requires only that a public servant “knowingly, arbitrarily, and capriciously: (a) Refrain[] from performing a duty imposed upon him by law; or (b) Violates any statute…relating to his office.” Griswold appears to have failed that duty she sought from the legislature, and she may have violated that new password law she wanted.

It is obvious Griswold must not be allowed to investigate herself (as she is attempting to do) regarding these criminal charges — only to report back “no worries here, it was an accident.” No county clerk would be given that privilege. Griswold would immediately remove and replace them. We have seen her do it.

Also, even if an independent investigation determined it was an “oops” moment, that does not get her or the office off the hook.

The crime of Violation of Duty (Peters was convicted of this too) prohibits and punishes “Any public officer… upon whom any duty is imposed… who… neglects, or fails to perform such duty….”

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser share jurisdiction on this matter. We have the power to force McCann to act. If “any person” files an affidavit “stating the name of any person who has violated any of the provisions of this code and stating the facts which constitute the alleged offense,” Colorado law compels the DA to “forthwith investigate, and, if reasonable grounds appear therefor, he shall prosecute the violator.” McCann is a Democrat. McCann’s successor, John Walsh is also a Democrat and a friend of Weiser’s. Walsh currently is on the ballot and potentially personally impacted by the SOS office misconduct. That likely is a conflict too.

Gov. Polis — also a Democrat — could order Weiser to investigate and prosecute. Phil is a Democrat. So is Griswold. Phil wants to be governor. So does Griswold. Weiser (AG) represents Griswold, so there is an easy out for Weiser in claiming a conflict.

One other option exists. In 2008, then-Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Attorney General John Suthers to investigate and prosecute 4th Judicial District Attorney John Newsome, but Suthers had been Newsome’s boss — so there was a conflict. So, Suthers appointed two former DAs to investigate the case.

Surely, there must be a couple of former DAs around who would jump at the chance to fulfill Weiser’s bold declaration after Peters’ sentencing that “Colorado’s election system is the gold standard of the nation. And make no mistake: my office will continue to protect it.”

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District and is a candidate for district attorney in the newly created 23rd Judicial District. He has served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter(X): @GeorgeBrauchler