Colorado governor signals he may free election denier Tina Peters

Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signaled Tuesday that he could grant clemency to convicted election denier Tina Peters — a suggestion that the state’s top election official condemned as “shocking and worrisome.” 

Polis explained in a social media post that Sonya Jaquez Lewis, a former state senator, was recently sentenced to probation and community service after being convicted of four felonies, including attempt to influence a public official — the same crime of which Peters was convicted.

“[I]t is not lost on me that [Lewis] was convicted of the exact same felony charge as Tina Peters — attempting to influence a public official — and yet Tina Peters, as a non-violent first time offender got a nine year sentence,” Polis wrote. “Justice in Colorado and America needs to be applied evenly, you never know when you might need to depend on the rule of law.”

Polis said that the sentencing disparity is the context with which he is considering clemency cases like Peters’, and added that he’s extending the deadline for clemency applications until April 3. 

Peters, a former GOP county clerk, is serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system breach.

In a statement, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) — who previously urged Polis against pardoning Peters — slammed the governor for comparing Peters’ crimes with Lewis’.

“Tina Peters was found guilty of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant along with four additional felony and misdemeanor counts,” Griswold said. “Beyond one count in common, it is not accurate to suggest that Peters’ and Sonya Jaquez Lewis’ actions or impacts are the same. Peters organized the breach of the election equipment, broke the public trust and attacked the very foundations of our democratic process. Her actions are still being used to try to undermine the 2026 election. She should get no special treatment by the Governor, and his statement is shocking and worrisome.”

Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein, a Republican who prosecuted Peters,  said any clemency for Peters would be a “gross injustice.”
“In Tina Peters’ case, the court imposed a sentence within the range established by law, sentencing her to three and a half years on each felony count, even though the statue allows up to six years,” Rubenstein said in a statement. “Judges hear the evidence at trial, weigh the impact of the conduct and the level of remorse, and determine where a sentence should fall within the range the Legislature established.”

In 2021, Peters — who was then serving as Mesa County clerk — allowed unauthorized individuals to access sensitive voting-machine software, helped copy and circulate confidential election data and then misled investigators as the scheme unraveled. The data later appeared in fringe, far-right conspiracy circles promoting Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen away from him. 

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) first launched an investigation and found that Peters, an avowed election denier, was behind the data leak. Peters was later found guilty of three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and a slew of misdemeanors.

Peters was sentenced to a state prison by Colorado District Judge Matthew Barrett, who did not mince words during the sentencing hearing. 

“You are no hero, you abused your position and you’re a charlatan who used, and is still using, your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again,” Barrett said.

Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Peters has become a cause célèbre among conspiracy-driven far-right activists and election deniers — some of whom have called for violence to free her. 

Trump himself has repeatedly called for Peters’ release and even granted her a legally meaningless “pardon.” Since Peters was convicted on state, not federal, charges, the president has no constitutional authority to grant state-level pardons. Trump has cut funding, vetoed state-specific bills, and launched federal investigations into Colorado as part of what some Colorado lawmakers and elected officials said was retaliation over Polis refusing to pardon Peters.

But Polis, who is term-limited from running for reelection this year, early this year signaled a willingness to pardon Peters. 

“She got a sentence that was harsh. It was a 9 year sentence,” Polis said in an interview in January. “So we always look at people’s sentences. And when you have people that are elderly, and we’re looking at this across a number of many people — people in their 70s or 80s in our system — how much of a threat to society are they and how do we balance that in a way that makes sure they can spend their last year few years at home?”

Griswold previously told Democracy Docket that Polis should not pardon Peters. 

“Tina Peters granted unauthorized access to [voting] equipment and placed the security of Mesa County’s elections, and all of our elections, at risk,” Griswold said. “Her actions have been used to spread countless conspiracies and incite countless threats against election officials here in Colorado and across the country. She was found guilty by a jury of her peers in a conservative county where she’s from. And she is one of the only people in the entire country who is still facing accountability for attacking American elections.”