A former Colorado county clerk who promoted 2020 election conspiracy theories was sentenced Thursday to 9 years behind bars for charges including official misconduct in connection with a security breach of Mesa County’s voting system.
“Your lies are well-documented and these convictions are serious,” Judge Matthew Barrett told Tina Peters before he handed down his sentence for the 2021 security breach, calling her a “charlatan” who used her time in office “to peddle snake oil.”
Peters was convicted of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in August for using another person’s security badge to allow someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier and ally of former President Donald Trump, access to county election equipment.
The county’s machines had to be replaced afterwards when data, including passwords for the machines, were posted online.
Peters was “a fox guarding the henhouse,” prosecutor Jessica Drake said in her closing argument in August. “It was her job to protect the election equipment, and she turned on it and used her power for her own advantage.”
Peters maintains she did nothing wrong.
“It is with a heavy heart that I hear the vile accusations and anger levied against me for what I did to protect the people of Mesa County,” she told the judge before he handed down his sentence. She said she was simply trying to preserve information to make sure the election was secure, and asked the judge to sentence her to probation.
Matt Crane, executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, told the judge there were legal avenues she could have used to preserve the information she wanted without engaging in a “treacherous” scheme. He said her actions cost the county over $1 million.
District Attorney Daniel Rubinstein asked the judge to sentence Peters to maximum sentence, citing her lack of remorse. He also noted that despite her claims of widespread fraud, she never identified a single bogus vote.
County officials said her continued fraudulent election claims also led to a slew of death threats against election workers while she traveled around the country promoting her claims and ignored her actual duties. Peters denied the claims and said she called in to the office when she was not in the state.
Peters ran for secretary of state in 2022 after she was indicted, and was defeated in the Republican primary. She alleged fraud in that election as well, and demanded a recount after losing by 85,000 votes. The recount resulted in her getting an additional 13 votes — as did the overall primary winner, Pam Anderson.
