The Release and Sentence Reduction
Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk convicted of breaching voting systems to search for election fraud evidence, walked free Monday after serving less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence on May 15 after President Trump waged a lengthy pressure campaign against the governor, including social media attacks and threats to dismantle federal research facilities in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Corrections confirmed Peters' release and said it would provide no further information about the 70-year-old.
Polis wrote in his commutation letter that although Peters was convicted of serious crimes and deserved prison time, her sentence was "extremely unusual and lengthy" for a first-time and non-violent offender. Peters was sentenced in October 2024 to nine years after being convicted on charges of giving an individual affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell access to election software she controlled as county clerk.
How Peters Breached Election Security
Peters snuck in an outside computer expert affiliated with Lindell, who himself denied that Trump lost the 2020 election, and the person copied the county's Dominion Voting Systems computer server as it was updated in 2021. Peters then joined Lindell onstage at a "cybersymposium" that promised to reveal proof the election was rigged. Video and photos of the computer system upgrade, including passwords, were posted online, fueling claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump, which Colorado election officials have rejected as unfounded.
She was convicted in 2024 of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty and other crimes by jurors in Mesa County, a Republican stronghold that supported Trump. An appeals court upheld her conviction in April but ordered her resentenced because it said the judge wrongly punished her for speaking out about election fraud.
Colorado Officials Oppose the Commutation
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, called the commutation a "dark day for democracy" and said it amounted to "selling out our state's justice system for Trump." Griswold stated that Peters' release "will embolden the election denial movement" and called the governor's action "an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado, and election officials across the country."
Election officials in Colorado have pushed back for years against Peters' claims about the 2020 election and have said there is no proof of election interference in the state. Griswold warned the commutation "sends a dangerous message about accountability for those who would attack elections."
Trump's Leverage Over the Governor
Trump lacked the power to pardon Peters directly since she was convicted under state law. Instead, he pressured Polis through social media attacks, disinviting him from a White House meeting with other governors, and having his administration announce plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and relocate U.S. Space Command to Alabama.
