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A former pro-Trump county clerk in Colorado has been found guilty of tampering with voting machines in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
Tina Peters, who worked in Mesa County was convicted of seven out of 10 criminal charges on Tuesday, including three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.
The jury acquitted her of one felony count of identity theft and two felony counts of criminal impersonation. Prosecutors told jurors that the woman had used a security badge to access the election system without the owner’s consent.
During her March trial, prosecutors said the clerk became “fixated” on voting problems after becoming involved with individuals who had questioned the results of the 2020 election.
Judge Matthew Barrett read the verdict in the courtroom on Tuesday while Peters stood next to one of her attorneys.
The jury had only deliberated for a few hours. Prosecutors asked them to convict Peters on the basis that she deceived government employees to work with conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.
Specifically, she allowed a former surfer with ties to the conspiracy theorist named Conan Hayes, to observe a software update and make copies of the hard drive using Gerald Wood’s security badge. Peters said Wood worked for her and he denied being involved in the scheme during testimony.
Prosecutors said the woman was hungry for fame and wanted to emerge the “hero” and appear at Lindell’s symposium on the 2020 election.
“The defendant was a fox guarding the henhouse,” Janet Drake, a prosecutor with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. “It was her job to protect the election equipment, and she turned on it and used her power for her own advantage.
Defense attorneys for Peters argued that she hadn’t committed any crimes and had only wanted to preserve election records after the county declined to let one of its technology experts be present at the software update.
Her intentions were to preserve records to access the voting system to find out whether anyone from “China or Canada” had tapped into the machine as ballots were counted.
“Thank God she did,” John Case, the woman’s attorney, said. “Otherwise we really wouldn’t know what happened.”
It’s the first prosecution of a local election worker over a security breach pertaining to the election’s results, causing concerns that a rogue clerk could theoretically manipulate results from within their own systems.
Peters’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for 3 October. She could face multiple years in prison.
