Who Is Tina Peters? Election Breach, Conviction, and Commutation

Tina Peters is the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk and recorder who was convicted in 2024 of four felonies and three misdemeanors for orchestrating an unauthorized breach of her county’s Dominion voting equipment in 2021. A Republican who publicly disputed the 2020 presidential election results, she was sentenced to nine years in prison, had that sentence reversed on appeal and later commuted by Governor Jared Polis, and was released on parole on June 1, 2026.¹²

What She Did in Mesa County

In May 2021, Mesa County was scheduled for a routine software update on its Dominion Voting Systems equipment, a process the industry calls a “trusted build.” As county clerk, Peters controlled access to the secure area where the ballot-processing machines were kept. Prosecutors proved she used the identity of a local man named Gerald Wood to badge an unauthorized person into that restricted area during the update.¹

The person she let in was Conan Hayes, a former professional surfer with no authorization to touch election systems. Once inside, Hayes copied the voting machines’ hard drives, capturing software images and security passwords. Peters had turned off the surveillance cameras in the tabulation room so the intrusion would not be recorded. Trial testimony showed she used encrypted messaging and told co-conspirators to communicate on disposable “burner phones.”³

The copied images and passwords then went public. They appeared on a conspiracy-theory website and surfaced at a multi-day event MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell hosted in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in August 2021. Peters attended and sat on a panel there.⁴ Cybersecurity experts said the disclosure handed anyone probing voting systems a “practice environment” to work from.⁵

Investigation and Charges

The online appearance of Mesa County’s passwords and software images triggered investigations by the Colorado Secretary of State, the 21st Judicial District Attorney, and the FBI. Secretary of State Jena Griswold decertified the county’s voting equipment on August 12, 2021, and ordered Peters to hand over machines, surveillance footage, and related records. Peters did not comply.⁶

She was ultimately charged with nine felonies and five misdemeanors, including multiple counts of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, criminal impersonation, identity theft, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failure to comply with the Secretary of State.⁷ Her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors in exchange for testifying against her.⁸

The 2022 Secretary of State Run

Under indictment, Peters ran in 2022 for the Republican nomination for Colorado Secretary of State, the office that oversees elections in the state. She lost the primary to Pam Anderson by roughly 14 percentage points, 268,638 votes to 180,059.⁹

Conviction and Nine-Year Sentence

On August 12, 2024, a Mesa County jury convicted Peters on seven of ten counts: three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and misdemeanor counts of first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failure to comply with the Secretary of State. She was acquitted of two counts of criminal impersonation and one count of identity theft.¹

On October 3, 2024, 21st Judicial District Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced her to nine years total: eight and a half years in the state Department of Corrections plus six months in county jail, along with a $14,992.50 fine.⁷¹⁰ Peters said at the hearing she had “never done anything with malice to break the law” and had “only wanted to serve the people of Mesa County.”¹¹

Trump’s Pardon Attempt

In December 2025, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social what he called a “full federal pardon” for Peters, writing that she was “sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections.”¹² The pardon had no legal effect on her incarceration. The presidential pardon power under Article II reaches only federal offenses, and Peters had been convicted of Colorado state crimes in a state court. Secretary of State Griswold responded that Trump had “no constitutional authority to pardon her.”¹³

The Appeal

Peters appealed both her conviction and her sentence. On April 2, 2026, a unanimous Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed all seven convictions but reversed the nine-year sentence, ruling that the trial judge had based the punishment “in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech.” The court sent the case back for resentencing.¹⁴¹⁵

The same opinion rejected Peters’ argument that Trump’s pardon shielded her from state prosecution and dismissed her Supremacy Clause immunity claim, noting she was not a federal officer and had not acted under any federal duty. Her rehearing request was denied on April 23, 2026.¹⁴¹⁶

Commutation and Release

On May 15, 2026, Governor Jared Polis signed an executive order commuting Peters’ sentence to four years and four and a half months, setting a parole date of June 1, 2026.¹⁷¹⁸¹⁹ In her clemency submission, Peters wrote: “I made mistakes, and for those I am sorry… I have learned and grown during my time in prison and going forward I will make sure that my actions always follow the law.”²⁰

The commutation split Polis’s own party. On May 20, 2026, the Colorado Democratic Party’s central committee voted 89.8 percent to censure him, following a petition signed by more than 700 party members. The resolution barred him indefinitely from official party events and accused him of “conduct inconsistent with the party’s commitment to democratic institutions, election integrity, and public accountability.” All six members of Colorado’s Democratic congressional delegation condemned the decision.²¹²²

Peters walked out of La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo on June 1, 2026, after serving less than two years of the original sentence. She is subject to three years of parole.²

Where She Stands Now

The contrition in Peters’ clemency statement did not carry into her first day of freedom. She appeared on a program hosted by Steve Bannon and returned to promoting election-fraud claims. “I know that the Democrats are going to cheat,” she said, calling her sentence “retribution” for “exposing the election machines that allow the votes to be flipped.”²³ She accused Secretary Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser of trying to “cover up” the truth about Colorado’s elections and asked supporters to donate to her legal defense.²⁴

Her convictions still stand, and the case remains pending resentencing under the appeals court’s April 2026 order. Her attorneys retain the option of asking the Colorado Supreme Court to review the case.¹⁶ Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, who prosecuted her, told reporters after her release: “I hate that this is what my town is known for.”²⁵

1
Colorado Newsline. Tina Peters, Former Mesa County Clerk, Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison Over Voting Systems Breach
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Grand Junction Sentinel. Tina Peters Released From Prison
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Votebeat. Tina Peters Election Security Threat
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Votebeat. Mike Lindell Cyber Symposium
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Colorado Sun. Mesa County Elections Breach
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StateScoop. Colorado Election Equipment Password Breach Mesa County
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Heritage Foundation Election Fraud Database. Case 201683 – Tina Peters
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Colorado Sun. Belinda Knisley Pleads Guilty
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Colorado Secretary of State. 2022 Republican Primary Results – Secretary of State
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States United. Peters Sentencing
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PBS NewsHour. Republican Election Denier Tina Peters Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison for Voting Data Scheme
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CNN. Trump Pardons Tina Peters Election Denier
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New York Times. Trump Pardon Tina Peters Colorado
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Colorado Court of Appeals. People v. Peters, No. 24CA1951
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Colorado Newsline. Court Orders Resentencing Tina Peters
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CPR News. Appeals Court Won’t Rehear Tina Peters Arguments
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KDVR. Governor Polis Clemency Executive Order – Tina Peters
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Colorado Newsline. Tina Peters Released Colorado Prison June 1
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RMPBS. Tina Peters Jared Polis Colorado Parole
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NPR. Tina Peters Polis Commutation Trump
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Colorado Newsline. Colorado Democrats Censure Polis
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New York Times. Colorado Governor Polis Tina Peters
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Colorado Newsline. Unapologetic Tina Peters Release Prison
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Colorado Gazette. Tina Peters Speaks Out After Release From Colorado Prison
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New York Times. Tina Peters Release Election Tampering Colorado