Tina Peters, a former election official in Colorado's Mesa County who promoted former President Donald Trump's election conspiracy theories and was responsible for a voting system security breach, was sentenced today to nine years in prison.
“Your lies are well documented and these convictions are serious,” 21st Judicial District Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters, according to The Colorado Sun. 'I'm confident you would do it again. You are as challenging a defendant as this court has ever seen.” Barrett said “jail is the only place” for Peters.
“You are not a hero,” Barrett also said, according to Colorado Public Radio. “You are a charlatan who has used and continues to use your previous position in office to sell snake oil that has been proven time and time again to be garbage.”
Peters will reportedly serve 60 days to six months in the Mesa County Jail and then be transferred to the state Department of Corrections. “Peters was handcuffed and taken to jail immediately after her conviction,” the Sun wrote.
Peters 'has compromised her own election material'
On August 12, Peters was convicted of “three counts of attempting to influence a public official, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, dereliction of duty and failure to comply with the requirements of the Secretary of State.” Associated Press wrote at the time.
After the sentencing, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said that “Tina Peters deliberately compromised her own election equipment in an attempt to prove Trump's Big Lie. She has been found guilty by a jury of her peers and will now face the consequences of her actions.”
In October 2021, Peters was banned from overseeing elections for leaking voting system BIOS passwords to QAnon conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins. At the time, Mesa County District Court Judge Valerie Robison explained how Peters brought a man to a meeting about a “trusted build” software update intended to ensure a secure chain of custody of the voting system.
