DENVER (AP) — The Denver District Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation into the case leaking of voting system passwords which were posted on a state website in the months leading up to the election and removed only last month.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold characterized the leak as an accident, adding that it did not pose an “immediate” security threat, which the Colorado County Clerks Association agreed with. Passwords are only one part of a layered security system and can only be used to personally access voting systems in secure and monitored rooms.

“The State Department is supporting and working closely with the Denver District Attorney’s investigation,” said Kailee Stiles, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state. “We welcome the additional transparency.”

Matt Jablow, a spokesman for the Denver district attorney’s office, declined to provide additional information about the investigation.

The mistake comes amid skepticism about voting systems and drew swift criticism from the Colorado Republican Party. National elections remain fair and reliable.

The passwords were on a hidden tab of a spreadsheet that was posted by a staff member on the Secretary of State’s website. Once the leak was made public, Gov. Jared Polis and Griswold launched a statewide effort to change passwords and check for spoofing.

On Election Day, a judge denied a request by the state’s Libertarian Party to manually count ballots because of the leak. Judge Kandace Gerdes said there was no evidence it was used to compromise or tamper with voting equipment.

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Bedayn is a member of the Associated Press Corps/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.

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