Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk and recorder who was given a draconian sentence in 2024 after allowing an individual unauthorized access to certain parts of the county’s election systems, was granted clemency by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, on Friday afternoon.
The 70-year-old Peters will be released from prison on June 1, The Associated Press reported.
The move comes after a Colorado appeals court upheld her data breach conviction last month but found that the sentencing of Peters violated her First Amendment rights because the judge took her political beliefs into account.
Peters was indicted in 2022 on 10 counts, both felonies and misdemeanor, after she allowed another election integrity activist to access secure areas of the county’s election system in an attempt to find if fraud had been perpetrated in the 2020 election.
The judge at her sentencing, District Judge Matthew Barrett, made explicit reference to the fact that Peters had been a supporter of Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud and indicated it factored into him giving her a nine-year prison sentence.
“You are no hero. You abused your position and you’re a charlatan … It’s just more lies. No objective person believes them. No, at the end of the day, you cared about the jets, the podcasts and people fawning over you,” he said at the sentencing.
The appeals court agreed that the verdict was fair but that the sentencing, especially given the judge’s language, was not.
“The trial court’s comments about Peters’s belief in the existence of 2020 election fraud went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing,” the court ruled in a 3-0 decision.
“Her offense was not her belief, however misguided the trial court deemed it to be, in the existence of such election fraud; it was her deceitful actions in her attempt to gather evidence of such fraud.”
The case had been referred to Mesa County courts for resentencing, but Gov. Polis effectively put an end to that Friday by offering her clemency and a release date just a few weeks away.
While Polis said in his letter to Peters that the crimes she was convicted of deserved prison time, “this is an extremely unusual and lengthy sentence for a first time offender who committed nonviolent crimes.”
“She thought she was trying to back up the software before it was updated. She did it illegally. There’s no question about it. And she deserves to go to prison. And I think this is a more appropriate, even harsh, frankly sentence for that crime,” Polis said Friday, according to the Colorado Sentinel.
He added that Peters’ application for clemency “demonstrates taking responsibility for your crimes, and a commitment to follow the law going forward.”
“I made mistakes, and for those I am sorry. Five years ago I misled the Secretary of State when allowing a person to gain access to county voting equipment. That was wrong,” Peters said in a statement.
“I have learned and grown during my time in prison and going forward I will make sure that my actions always follow the law, and I will avoid the mistakes of the past.”
Opposite sides of the political spectrum, obviously, reacted quite differently. President Donald Trump, obviously, was quite pleased:
𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗱 𝗝. 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 – 𝟬𝟱:𝟬𝟯 𝗣𝗠 𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝟬𝟱.𝟭𝟱.𝟮𝟲
FREE TINA!
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) May 15, 2026
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who had argued against any leniency for Peters, called it “a dark day for democracy.”
“Selling out our state’s justice system for Trump is an affront to the rule of law,” Griswold said.
“The Governor’s actions today will validate and embolden the election denial movement, and leave a dark, dangerous imprint on American democracy for years to come,” she added, according to the Colorado Sentinel.
“Gov. Polis’ commutation of Tina Peters’ sentence is mind-boggling and wrong as a matter of basic justice,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for governor.
“Caving in to this president will only lead to more abuse from the bullying Trump administration. Today is a sad day for Colorado and the rule of law.”
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