A former Colorado district clerk and one-time hero of election conspirators will be sentenced Thursday for leading a data breach scheme inspired by rampant false claims that voter fraud changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.
A jury found Tina Peters guilty of most of the charges against her in August for orchestrating the security breach of her election computer system.
Peters was the first election official charged with a security breach amid baseless conspiracies involving widespread fraud that denied President Donald Trump a second term.
Peters was convicted of allowing a county security card to be misused to give a man associated with My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell access to Mesa County’s election system and of misleading other officials about the identity of that person.
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 sought fame and became fixated on voting issues after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.
The Peters breach was accused of raising 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 official, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, official misconduct in the first degree, dereliction of duty and failure 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 not apologized for what happened.
In a post on the social media platform
“I will continue to fight until the truth that was not allowed to be brought out during this trial is revealed. This is a sad day for our nation and the world. But in the end we WILL win,” she said.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has called her conviction a warning that tampering with voting processes will have consequences.
