Former Colorado County Clerk Tina Peters Released After Governor Reduces Prison Term

Tina Peters, a former county elections clerk convicted for her role in a scheme promoting election conspiracy theories linked to Donald Trump, was released from prison on Monday after President Trump successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor to commute her sentence.

The Colorado Department of Corrections confirmed Peters’ release. The agency stated it has no further information regarding the 70‑year‑old.

Governor Jared Polis shortened her sentence in May, following a prolonged pressure campaign by Trump against the governor and the state.

She served less than one‑quarter of her nine‑year term.

Peters became the first local election official charged with breaching security after the 2020 election, which Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden at the conclusion of his first term.

She allowed an outside computer expert, affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — who also claimed that Trump did not lose the White House in 2020 — to copy the county’s Dominion Voting Systems server during a 2021 update.

Peters later appeared onstage with Lindell at a “cybersymposium” that purportedly would expose evidence that the election was rigged. Video footage and photos of the server upgrade, including passwords, were posted online, fueling false claims that voting machines had been manipulated to favor Trump.

In 2024, a jury in Mesa County, a Republican‑leaning area that backed Trump, convicted Peters of attempting to influence a public official, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, violation of duty, and related offenses. An appellate court upheld the conviction in April but ordered a resentencing, ruling that the original judge improperly penalized her for speaking out about alleged election fraud.

Although Trump publicly supported Peters’ case, he lacked the authority to pardon her under state law. Instead, the president pressured Governor Polis, criticizing him on social media and excluding him from a White House gathering with other governors. The administration also announced intentions to dissolve the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and move the U.S. Space Command to Alabama.

Polis commuted Peters’ sentence on May 15. In a letter, he noted that while she had been convicted of serious offenses and deserved some incarceration, the term was “extremely unusual and lengthy” for a first‑time, non‑violent offender.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, described the commutation as a “dark day for democracy” and said it amounted to “selling out our state’s justice system for Trump.”

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