Election Security Under Fire: BIOS Passwords, Signature Verification, and the Push for Hand Counts

On Monday, November 4, 2024, the day before Election Day, Kim Monson assembled election integrity experts and advocates to dissect vulnerabilities in Colorado’s voting systems. From the Superior Farms ballot measure to exposed BIOS passwords to signature verification failures, the broadcast provided crucial pre-election analysis with Bonnie Brown of the Colorado Wool Growers Association, election security analyst Robert Cooper, retired Air Force Colonel Shawn Smith, and Libertarian Party leaders Hannah Goodman and James Wiley.

Property Rights and the Superior Farms Ballot Measure

Start listening at 16:36 – Hour 1

Bonnie Brown, Executive Director of the Colorado Wool Growers Association, exposes the deceptive tactics behind Denver’s Ordinance 309, which would shut down Superior Farm’s lamb processing plant. Pro Animal Future, the activist group pushing the measure, recruited a supposed whistleblower who never actually worked for Superior Farms. The man worked at the facility briefly in the 1980s, a full decade before Superior purchased the plant in 1996.

Brown emphasizes that the 160 employees at Superior Farms have repeatedly stated they enjoy their jobs and did not ask for this ban. Temple Grandin, the world-renowned livestock handling expert, reviewed the undercover videos and found no violations. The consequences extend far beyond Denver, as sheep ranchers across Colorado would face trucking their animals to California or Texas for processing, dramatically increasing costs that ultimately fall on consumers.

“Pro Animal Future knows that voters in Colorado are not going to agree with their radical agenda to eliminate livestock production. So they try to sneak in the back door by saying, let’s shut down this slaughter plant because we can build a false narrative around that to dupe voters with a misinformation campaign.”

Bonnie Brown, Executive Director, Colorado Wool Growers Association

The Signature Verification Problem

Start listening at 32:10 – Hour 1

Robert Cooper, election security researcher, reveals that signature verification represents the sole form of voter ID in Colorado’s mail-in ballot system. Once a signature passes verification and the envelope opens, that vote can never be pulled back. Cooper points to Mesa County’s 2022 fraud detection case, where officials caught only nine of twelve known fraudulent ballots through signature verification, a 25 percent failure rate on known fraud.

Cooper highlights a troubling disparity across Colorado counties. Analysis of ballot reconciliation reports shows signature rejection rates ranging from 0.6 percent to 2.2 percent, nearly a four-fold variance. Financial institutions abandoned signature verification as a sole ID method two decades ago due to unreliability. Forensic signature specialists require two to three years of training for court certification, while election judges receive roughly two hours of training.

“The entire voter ID verification of a mail-in voting system is based on signature verification, and banks don’t use that as the only source.”

Robert Cooper, Election Security Researcher

BIOS Passwords and Voting System Vulnerabilities

Start listening at 69:12 – Hour 2

Retired Air Force Colonel Shawn Smith of Cause of America offers a technical analysis of the BIOS password breach that exposed voting machine credentials for 63 of 64 Colorado counties. Secretary of State Jenna Griswold claimed security remained intact because two passwords protect the systems, but Smith explains this semantic game obscures the danger. With BIOS access, an attacker can alter boot sequences, install malware, bypass Windows passwords entirely, and manipulate election databases without leaving detectable traces.

The problem compounds because Colorado’s voting machines lack adequate logging. Federal voting system standards require computers to record all activity, but Dominion systems have been configured to overwrite logs when memory fills rather than archive them. Smith notes that all voting system computers were manufactured overseas, with notebooks built entirely in China, creating supply chain vulnerabilities that may be impossible to detect. Governor Polis’s emergency deployment of state IT staff to verify system integrity amounts to theater, as qualified cyber forensic analysis of each component would require days of expert examination.

“They don’t have the artifacts they need to determine whether or not the systems have been compromised or used in an unauthorized manner.”

Shawn Smith, Retired Air Force Colonel, Cause of America

Libertarian Party Lawsuit Demands Hand Count

Start listening at 100:30 – Hour 2

Hannah Goodman, Chair of the Colorado Libertarian Party, and Congressional candidate James Wiley announce their lawsuit against Secretary Griswold over the BIOS password breach. The Libertarian Party previously won a Judicial Watch lawsuit forcing Colorado to clean voter rolls. Now they demand decommissioning of compromised voting machines and implementation of hand-counted paper ballots.

Wiley emphasizes that whether or not passwords were changed, the machine logs remain unverified, including BIOS settings that could enable wireless attacks. The same remedy applied to 41 machines in Mesa County should apply statewide. Hand counting has resolved accuracy disputes in jurisdictions like DeKalb County, Georgia, where machine tallies were off by over 40 percent. The hearing scheduled for that afternoon at Denver District Court could reshape how Colorado counts Election Day votes.

“So as libertarians, our first priority is to hold the state accountable. And so I’m grateful for the opportunity to bring this case and for Hannah and her leadership and allowing us to confront the state in this instance.”

James Wiley, Libertarian Party Congressional Candidate

Insurance in Uncertain Times

Start listening at 61:59 – Hour 2

Roger Mangan, with 47 years of experience as a State Farm agent, discusses the importance of working with a local agent rather than an 800 number when filing claims. Colorado experienced nine catastrophic hail events this season alone, defined as storms generating 500 or more claims. His agency currently handles approximately 400 hail claims, with 350 in El Paso County alone.

Mangan explains that when you buy insurance, you buy a promise, and that promise is better fulfilled by someone who knows you personally. One customer recently saved $2,200 annually by switching from Progressive, demonstrating the value of shopping rates even in a competitive market. The agent serves as a coach through the claims process, advocating for customers within the rules that govern the relationship.

“So you’re buying the services of a coach who will advise you through the process in a way that’s most beneficial to you within the set of rules that govern the whole relationship.”

Roger Mangan, State Farm Agent