Tina Peters, a Colorado elections clerk and proponent of election conspiracy theories, is set to be released from prison on Monday, having served less than a quarter of her nine-year sentence.
Her early release follows a commutation by Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, who acted last month after facing significant pressure from Donald Trump.
Peters was the first local election official to face charges for breaching security protocols after the 2020 election.
She facilitated an outside computer expert linked to My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell – a prominent figure who denied Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential race – to copy Mesa County’s Dominion Voting Systems computer server during a 2021 update.
Subsequently, Peters appeared alongside Lindell at a “cybersymposium” where they promised to unveil evidence of a rigged election.
Videos and images of the computer system upgrade, including sensitive passwords, were then published online, fueling unsubstantiated claims that voting machines were manipulated to deny Trump victory.
In 2024, jurors in Mesa County, a Republican stronghold that supported Trump, convicted Peters of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and other offenses.
An appeals court upheld her conviction in April but mandated a resentencing, citing that the judge had improperly penalized her for speaking about election fraud.
Trump had publicly championed Peters’ case. However, as her conviction was under state law, he lacked the authority to issue a pardon. Instead, the commander-in-chief exerted pressure on Governor Polis, publicly criticizing him on social media and disinviting him from a White House meeting with other governors.
The administration also announced intentions to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and relocate the U.S. Space Command to Alabama.
Governor Polis commuted Peters’ sentence on May 15. In a letter, he acknowledged that while Peters was convicted of serious crimes and deserved prison time, her sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first-time non-violent offender.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, condemned the decision, calling it a “dark day for democracy” and accusing Governor Polis of “selling out our state’s justice system for Trump.”
The Colorado Department of Corrections did not confirm the exact time of Peters’ release, and a representative for her attorney stated she would not speak to the media upon her release.
