A local elections official who became a hero to election deniers was sentenced to nine years in prison on Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome.
Tina Peters allowed a man affiliated with the pillow salesman and election-lie trafficker Mike Lindell to misuse a security card to access the Mesa county election system.
Jurors found Peters guilty in August, convicting her of seven counts related to misconduct, conspiracy and impersonation, four of which were felony charges.
Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced her on Thursday. Peters had argued for probation. Barrett, in delivering his sentence, said it was clear Peters had not shown remorse for her actions.
Barrett called out Peters for being “as defiant as a defendant that the court has ever seen” and said he believed Peters would do it all over again if she could. He accused her of seeking fame, despite her claims that she didn’t want attention for her actions.
He said she didn’t respect the courts, law enforcement, government officials or her colleagues, and had abused the power of her position. She didn’t take the clerk role “particularly seriously”, he said, noting she hadn’t completed certification, and that “one scandal after another followed you in your time as the clerk.”
He added, “You are no hero, 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.”
At trial, prosecutors said Peters, a Republican, was seeking fame and became “fixated” on voting problems after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.
Peters was charged for allowing access to county voting equipment by an outside person, who was given security credentials under a different name. Materials and passwords were then published online on Telegram and on the rightwing outlet the Gateway Pundit, which is also being sued for defamation for election-related lies.
During the sentencing hearing, Peters said she was “very taken aback” by how she was being depicted and said she felt bad for her critics who were asking for harsh sentences. She said she was just trying to do her job as a clerk.
“I’m just appalled. I feel bad for them because I know, I’ve often said, God doesn’t like people messing with his kids, and I believe I’m a child of God,” she said, according to video posted to social media. “And I believe that it was important for someone to stand up, and I chose to do that.”
She also told the judge she cannot go to prison because she needs to sleep on a magnetic mattress, which she has been using since 1995 to help with health conditions such as chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia.
Peters’ actions came as conspiracies grew around vote tabulation machines, especially those owned by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion has fought against the lies spread about its machines, securing a large settlement from Fox over its false claims on the topic.
That anti-machine sentiment is still at play on the right in the 2024 election – with some pushing for hand counts of all ballots instead of machine tabulation.
Peters exemplifies the type of insider threat to elections that officials fear – people working within elections themselves could upend systems from within. Pro-democracy groups praised the sentencing on Thursday, saying it should make clear to those trying to undermine elections that there are consequences.
“It’s good that she’s being held accountable,” said Nick Penniman, CEO and founder of Issue One, a cross-partisan democracy group. “Today’s sentencing should send a message to other potential saboteurs that messing with America’s elections isn’t a game, and that law enforcement is watching.”
Peters’ actions in Mesa county came at a cost, both financial and reputational. County officials say they are now associated with this breach and with election denialism. A county commissioner estimated the financial fallout to county taxpayers at $1.4m, Colorado Public Radio reported, for Peters’ salary and recounts, among other costs.
The county clerk position was the first Peters held, starting in 2018. She ran unsuccessfully for the state’s top elections job, the secretary of state, in 2022.
