Tina Peters, the former Mesa County elections clerk convicted of breaching her county’s Dominion Voting Systems server after the 2020 election, is scheduled to be released from a Colorado prison Monday after serving less than a quarter of a nine-year sentence, the Associated Press reports.
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis commuted Peters’ term on May 15, cutting it in half and making her eligible for release today. The move came after months of escalating pressure from President Trump, who championed Peters’ case publicly but lacked the constitutional authority to pardon her because she was convicted under state, not federal, law.
Trump applied that pressure through a series of moves. He attacked Polis repeatedly on social media. He pulled the governor’s invitation to a White House meeting with fellow governors. The administration announced plans to dismantle Colorado’s National Center for Atmospheric Research and relocated U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.
Polis eventually acted.
In his commutation letter, the governor wrote that while Peters “committed serious crimes and deserved to serve time in prison,” her nine-year sentence was “extremely unusual and lengthy for a first-time non-violent offender.”
Peters, 70, was convicted in 2024 on multiple counts including attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and violation of duty. She became the first local election official charged with breaching election security in the wake of the 2020 presidential race.
The case traces back to May 2021, when Peters arranged for an outside computer technician affiliated with My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell to accompany her during a routine Dominion Voting Systems server update at the Mesa County elections office. The technician copied the server’s contents. Images from the copy, including system passwords, were later posted online. Peters then appeared onstage with Lindell at his “cybersymposium,” where she was billed as a witness to election irregularities.
Mesa County is a Republican stronghold that supported Trump. A jury there still convicted her.
An appeals court upheld her conviction in April but ordered resentencing. The court found the original judge had improperly enhanced Peters’ sentence in part based on public statements she made about election fraud.
Peters’ legal team said she will not speak to the press when she is freed. The Colorado Department of Corrections declined to confirm a release time.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, condemned the commutation. “This is a dark day for democracy,” Griswold said, accusing Polis of “selling out our state’s justice system for Trump.”
Trump had called Peters a political prisoner targeted for questioning the 2020 election and pressed for her release for more than a year. With today’s release, that campaign reaches its conclusion.
