Former Colorado county clerk sentenced to 9 years for election tampering

Former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for leading a security breach of the county's election system after being inspired by false and baseless claims of voting fraud.

Peters, a Republican, was convicted for giving an individual affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ally of former President Donald Trump, access to the election software she used for her county. Screenshots of the software appeared on right-wing websites.

She was found guilty on most of the charges related to election tampering and misconduct.

"Your lies are well documented, and these convictions are serious," District Judge Matthews Barrett said. "I'm convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You're as defiant as a defendant as this Court has never seen."

"There are many things in my mind that are crystal clear about this case, you are no hero," Barrett added. "You abused your position, and you're a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that's been proven to be junk, time and time again."

Barrett called the damage done by Peters to undermine the integrity of elections "immeasurable."

Before being sentenced, Peters took the stand to ask for probation, and told the judge she "never did anything with malice" and believed she was serving the people in Mesa County.

"I'm not a criminal and I don't deserve to go into a prison where other people have committed heinous crimes," Peters said.

The former Mesa County clerk, who gave a lengthy and emotional speech, told the judge she would be willing to not talk about elections anymore if sentenced to probation.

"I really am remorseful," she said.

Peters became a leading figure fueling false and baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud after the 2020 election. Since then, Peters has held a number of election denial events with Lindell.

The former clerk is the first local election official convicted of a security breach after the 2020 presidential election, the Associated Press reported.

"I came to Colorado today because you have here in Colorado the key to the whole nation," Lindell said in 2022, "because you had a great county clerk, Tina Peters, (who) did her job."

Lindell has not been charged in the case.

During Thursday's hearing, election denier Douglas Frank, a Lindell associate, said Peters was among many election officials who were "understandably concerned" about the 2020 election.

"Tina Peters is no conspirator, Tina Peters is a patriot," Frank said.

Matt Crane, the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, testified that Peters' actions have led directly to death threats against election officials in the state.

"We've seen long time clerks choose retirement due to the flames that Tina has willfully fanned," Crane said.

"These people have had their jobs made immeasurably harder by what Tina Peters did and her ongoing efforts to fuel the machine that continues to spread lies and disinformation," Crane said.

"But most importantly, her actions have contributed to millions of Americans developing a distrust in their election for no reason," he added.