Published June 1, 2026
Former Colorado official Tina Peters, who was convicted of allowing election machines to be tampered with, has been released from state prison following a pressure campaign by President Donald Trump.
After Peters was released from state prison on Monday, Colorado Secretary of State Jenna Griswold issued a statement opposing his release.
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“This sends a dangerous message about the responsibility of those who seek to attack elections,” Griswold wrote.
“Peters’ release will also energize the election denial movement. Since she was granted clemency, she has continued to spread election lies and conspiracies.”
Peters is a Trump supporter and was part of the election denial movement that denied Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election as fraud.
To prove that false claim, Mr. Peters allowed unauthorized members of the public to access the local electronic voting system and copy the hard drive. She was a county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado at the time.
She was ultimately sentenced to nine years in state prison for her role in breach of peace.
But Trump and his allies have held up her as an example of political persecution.
Last November, the Trump administration granted full pardons to those involved in the 2020 election denial effort. The following month, he specifically pardoned Mr. Peters, although he had not been charged with any federal crime.
But federal leniency does not apply to state-level charges, and President Trump pressured Colorado to drop the conviction.
Last month, Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, pardoned Peters, saying her nine-year sentence was disproportionate.
“The crimes you were convicted of are very serious and you deserve to spend time in prison for these crimes,” Polis said in a statement. “However, this is a highly unusual and lengthy sentence for a first-time offender who committed a non-violent crime.”
Still, the decision was seen as controversial, with Democrats, local officials and government watchdog groups accusing Polis of misjudgment.
“We are outraged, disgusted and deeply disappointed,” said Matt Crane, president of the Colorado County Employees Association, a group that advocates for municipal workers.
Many critics have noted that Peters has shown no remorse for his actions.
For example, shortly after her release, Steve Bannon published an interview with Peters on his podcast in which she repeated baseless claims about election fraud.
“I’m watching these elections play out in real time, you know, with Mamdani, Governor of Virginia, Spanberger, and what’s happening in California, Texas, Maine, just all over the country,” Peters said, listing areas where Democrats have won elections or made advances.
“We know that Democrats cheat, but no one is seriously addressing the issue that I spent time in prison in retaliation for. And that was exposing election machines that allow votes to be flipped.”
She added that she wrote Trump a letter thanking him for helping her.
Her comments immediately drew backlash from several Democratic gubernatorial candidates seeking to replace Polis.
“Tina Peters is out of prison and already spreading the same false claims about the Colorado election that led her to commit four felonies in the first place, all in service of Trump’s Big Lie,” said state Sen. Michael Bennet, one of the candidates.
“That’s not what regret is.”
