A former Colorado county clerk and one-time hero to election conspiracists is set to be sentenced Thursday for leading a data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that voting fraud altered the result of the 2020 presidential race.
A jury found Tina Peters guilty of most charges against her in August for orchestrating the security breach of her elections computer system.
Peters was the first election official to be charged with a security breach amid unfounded conspiracies that widespread fraud denied President Donald Trump a second term.
Peters was convicted for allowing a county security card to be misused to give a man affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell access to the Mesa County election system and for deceiving other officials about that person’s identity.
Lindell is a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.
During her trial, prosecutors said Peters was seeking fame and became fixated on voting problems after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.
The breach Peters was charged of leading heightened concerns that rogue election workers sympathetic to partisan lies could use their access and knowledge to attack voting processes from within.
Peters was convicted of 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.
She was found not guilty of identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and one count of criminal impersonation.
Peters has been unapologetic about what happened.
In a post on the social media platform X after her conviction, Peters accused Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems, which made her county’s election system, as well as lawyers for state election officials of stealing votes.
“I will continue to fight until the Truth is revealed that was not allowed to be brought during this trial. This is a sad day for our nation and the world. But we WILL win in the end,” she said.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has called her conviction a warning that tampering with voting processes will bring consequences.
Mead Gruver, The Associated Press
